Fred's Tour v2
by Amara Deegan
Summary: "All of time and space and you show me a hole in the ground." Of course, Amara would come to learn that when dealing with the Doctor all is not as it seems. 11/Amara OC , T - action and mild language, Adventure
1. To The Bottom

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.**

**After a bit of a hiatus, The Doctor and Amara are back to finish their adventure with Fred's Tour and move onto other adventures! **

**Reviews are always appreciated and loved!**

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"So, where are we?" Amara asked. She and the Doctor had been standing just a few steps outside of the TARDIS and seemed to be standing on the edge of a deep canyon. It almost looked like the Grand Canyon to Amara, and she thought for a moment that they really were at the Grand Canyon, but he had such a wide grin as he took it all in that it was only a momentary doubt. He had the look of someone showing off something they thought was impressive. Aside from that, she had been to the Grand Canyon before and although it was an incredibly close match this place certainly wasn't it. For starters it was much, much larger than the Grand Canyon she remembered visiting.

"I thought I'd show you some of the wonders in your own backyard so here we are standing at the very edge of one of the largest naturally made canyons in your galaxy. It is five miles from top to bottom at its deepest and only a mere twenty miles across at the its narrowest. Just like the Grand Canyon back on Earth, it was carved by water and time alone. Your canyon is a teenager compared to this one, but it will look like this someday." He never lost his excitement throughout the lesson. She took a step closer to the rim of the ledge they were perched on and realized he was right. It went much deeper and stretched much farther than the Grand Canyon did. There was just the tiniest sliver of reddish brown on the farthest horizon across from them to suggest solid land again. Down in deep cut depths, she saw large expanses of water in between the plateaus and figured that must be the water that carved the canyon.

"All of time and space and you show me a giant hole in the ground." Amara couldn't help but tease and covered a snorted laugh when his head snapped down at her with a disgusted look.

"All of time and space…hole in the ground…" He muttered under his breath along with a few incoherent grumbles.

"Geez, I was only kidding." She rolled her eyes at his behavior. "This really does beat the pants off of the Grand Canyon, but I'm sure we didn't come here just to look at it. Right?" Any annoyance he had for her just the moment before was wiped clean away from his features as he looked back to her again with a secretive smile.

"Come along, Deegan!" He abruptly turned on his heels and walked off. Just as abruptly, he stopped a few steps later making her stop short as well. "No, no, doesn't quite work. Come along, Amara!" He said and started off only to stop once again a few steps later with an exasperated huff, looking back at her like it was her fault for something. "We'll work on that." And just like that he was off again.

_Adorkable. Completely adorkable_. She thought smiling after him.

They turned away from the rim a short distance and were winding through shallow cuts and rolls of the upper levels of the canyon. He kept going on as if he knew exactly where he was headed and she didn't doubt it. After all he seemed to know all about the area, but then again she also knew a fair amount about the Grand Canyon before actually going to it just from television shows on travel and geology. Up ahead, Amara could hear the chatter of other people before they finally exited the winding set in path dumping into a wide flat area once again overlooking an expanse of the canyon. From this view point, the canyon rift seemed to go on past the horizon. The area they had entered was obviously meant as a great lookout point and photo-op, and that's exactly what was happening. There were crowds of others doing what tourists normally do: wandering all over the place, talking, looking at brochures, taking pictures, and pointing at various things. They were all humanoid in overall physical makeup, but as if to prove she was not on Earth they were also all a little bit different. Some had different hues of skin tones. Some had odd protrusions and additions to their bodies. She even saw someone with scales down their arms.

"Come on." He called back to her when she had fallen several steps behind gawking at everyone.

"Where are we going exactly?" She asked coming up to his side again.

"Where else? To the bottom." He pointed ahead to where a group of people were milling around. As they got closer, she could see they were waiting in front of a wide flat open lift with railings. She smiled at the fact that they were taking a large elevator down the canyon walls and was even thankful for it.

"Tickets! Tickets!" A politely smiling woman in what looked like to Amara like an older fashioned tight powder blue airline stewardess uniform was calling as she wandered through the crowd. People were flashing their tickets left and right at her but she only looked at them and didn't actually take any. Amara glanced at the Doctor wondering if he had any for them. She hadn't seen him purchase any. He was just standing there waiting and smiling until she got closer before he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out what looked like a thin black beat up wallet. He flashed it open at her as she passed by; she took a brief look and then kept on going through the crowd apparently pleased with what she saw.

"What was that?" Amara questioned.

"Psychic paper." He said and handed it to her. She flipped it open and on a piece of paper she saw the ticket everyone else had and it was labeled for two people. "Well, slightly psychic. It will show nearly anything I want to. Very handy at times."

"I'll bet!" She kept looking it over. Next to a label for general admission into the canyon park and admission for the lift they were about to take to the bottom it also had an admission for something called Fred's Tour. "Fred's Tour?"

"You can't come here and not take Fred's Tour! Very informative and very private. Only about ten people at a time go with Fred and he can take us places that are not on the map." He explained taking the paper back just as everyone was starting to move forward onto the lift.

"You got on Fred's Tour!" A grandma of an older woman dressed in hiking gear next to the Doctor said when she overheard him. Without waiting for an answer, she turned and swat at the arm of an older man dressed in the same hiking gear standing on the other side of her. "I told you to book it when we booked the vacation! Not when we get here after it's all filled up!" The poor battered man apologized several times with promises to make sure they got on the list next time.

"Popular tour?" Amara asked the Doctor.

"You can't come here and not take Fred's Tour." He repeated.


	2. I Love Rollercoasters

The ride to the bottom of the canyon was, at first, fairly interesting to Amara and the breeze created when they moved was a pleasant relief. If Amara had known beforehand they were going to be hiking around a canyon on what felt like something in the high eighties, she would have worn shorts instead of her usual jeans. She was glad she still had on her lighter V-neck shirt and a pair of sneakers she knew would stand long distances. Then again, it's not like she woke up that morning thinking she would be whisked off by a time traveling… Well, she really had no idea what he actually was. He certainly looked human, but he had two hearts and pretty much told her he was not from Earth. Not to mention the time and space traveling box he seemed to be the sole pilot and crew of.

Just as Amara expected, the same powder blue mini skirt wearing woman stood near the front and center of the lift to talk and point out various things about the canyon on their way down. It was surprisingly similar to the history of the Grand Canyon. The woman cheerfully referenced the early history of the planet they were on, called Alexandria, and described how early land explorers found the canyon, tried to map it, and how they didn't always survive. The only part that really peaked an interest for her was when the lady mentioned very briefly the settling of the planet by early 'full blooded' human space travelers. Amara asked the Doctor about that and he told her that they were now around one-hundred and thirty thousand years from her own time; humans had started to spread out from Earth and naturally _mingled_ along the way.

After about an hour of the historical and geological makeup of the canyon and how certain rock formations were thought to look like certain people, or aliens for all Amara knew since she had no clue who they were talking about, the tour guide announced they were going to speed up the lift and asked everyone to step back from the railings for safety purposes. Looking up, Amara saw that in that hour they had barely gone an eight of the way down even at the steady pace they had been going. On one hand, she was thankful they were speeding up, but then again she wondered what that would mean and had visions of rides she had been on at amusement parks where they lifted people up really high just to drop them in a free fall for a few seconds. She wasn't so sure she liked the idea of that.

"I love this part!" the Doctor said to her with a small excited bounce.

Looking around she saw everyone had obeyed the direction and took a couple steps in towards the center of the lift. Anyone who had come with someone else was also holding hands. Just as she noticed this, she felt his hand take hold of hers firmly. She gripped his in return more so out of reaction not sure what was about to happen. The tour lady walked past them to a pedestal in the back of the lift with just a few controls on its smooth stainless-steel looking slanted top repeating the safety warning before pressing a quick sequence. Almost immediately, the lift sped up. It was gradual at first, but then began to pick up speed until Amara could feel a slight weightlessness start to lift her and make her stomach flutter. Everyone on the lift seemed fine with it and a few smaller children were laughing, but it unnerved her as she watched the rocks and boulders whiz past closest to the sides of the lift—the safety warning making complete sense now. She plastered herself to the Doctor's side burying her face into his arm. She could have swore she felt him shake with a laugh, but she was more concerned with when the ride would be over. After a little while she could feel the breaks being put on and the weightlessness was replaced with the return of gravity pushing her feet, and stomach, firmly into the platform.

"Can I have my hand back now?" He asked into the top of her head. She looked up from where she had buried her face against him to see they were at the bottom of the canyon safe and sound. She hadn't even felt the platform 'land'. Everyone else was already moving to the front of the lift to get off and look around. She released his hand and stepped away feeling embarrassed.

"You two are adorable together!" The older woman from before fawned over them as she moved passed to exit. "Me and my Kinnely were like that too when we were your age. Weren't we, honey?"

"Hm, what?" The older man next to her hadn't been paying any attention at all. She gave him a swift swat on the arm.

"We're not together." Both Amara and the Doctor said at nearly the same time.

"Young love is so sweet!" She ignored them and continued on with the crowd.

"I can't wait until we're like that, sweetie-pie!" Amara teased batting eyes up at the Doctor. He simply scoffed with a shake of his head and pushed forward with the crowd. "By the way, you could have warned me."

"Where's the fun in that?" He shrugged. "I thought you would have enjoyed it."

"I love rollercoasters, but only when I know what's coming next." she explained.

"Again, where's the fun in that?" he asked.

"What was with holding hands?" she continued.

"You looked unsure." Was the simple reply.

"Thank you, but I saw everyone else doing it too. The lady only said to step back from the edge, but then everyone was holding hands like they were supposed to do it. That's why I kind of got freaked out." She admitted with a small twinge of embarrassment.

"There's an old, old, old, OLD legend about a Romeo and Juliet couple who leapt off the top of the canyon together. Typical young loves and their families said 'no' just because they didn't like each other. Although it was much less intense, and much less bloody, than the original story. They ran away one night, were followed by their families, and cornered in the canyon. He just grabbed her hand and they jumped!" The Doctor started explaining as they turned away from the direction the crowd was herding to follow the canyon wall.

"So everyone holds hands on the way down to mimic the couple that threw themselves off a cliff for love. That's just a bit morbid." Amara recapped.

"The thing is they survived!" He kept plodding on to where ever he was going. "They survived their leap of love all the way down to the very bottom of the canyon. Some call it a miracle they didn't hit the walls on the way down or simply go splat at the bottom. Some say that strong updrafts slowed their fall and maybe even made them float safely down. Some say they faked their deaths to escape their families. Some say it was because they managed to land in the lake."

"A lake? Yeah right! From that height, the speed of the fall would be like hitting solid concrete." Amara shook her head against the thought. As she was saying this, the path they were on once again opened up as it had at the top of the canyon to reveal a large lake. The shores were full of boulders and slabs of rock that had eroded from the canyon walls alongside small smooth water worn pebbles. The waters were a deep azure blue, but she could still see a long distance under them. Her eyes followed line of pebbles at the edge of the gently lapping waves underneath them and off into deeper navy blue depths. Across the lake, the other edges of the canyon cupped around it and at that distance they didn't look as if they were standing five miles down.

"Wow." Was all she could breathe at the sight.

"Show you a naturally made half billion year old canyon and you are more impressed with the two thousand year old man-made lake." He was clearly teasing her.

"That's man-made?" She pointed to the lake and realized it was the bits of water she had seen from above. Of course she had seen man-made nature before back on Earth, but the sheer scale of this lake was incredible. It was a land-locked sea more than a lake! For a moment she found herself wondering at what point does a lake become a sea. Did it have to do with overall size, volume of water, or just what people decided to name it?

"Yup, one hundred percent artificial! Right down to the water in it. That's not rain water—of course it's not!—this area of the continent barely even gets 1/10th of an inch of rain every few years or so. Nowhere near enough to collect this much even after two thousand years. Well, maybe a tiny bit of it is rain water, but there's not even any rivers feeding it." He approached the edge of the water to pick up a pebble and attempt to skip it. 'Attempt' was the right word because the ball shaped rock skipped only one and a half times before slipping beneath the water. Amara could follow it all the way down as if she was only looking through a distorted window instead of water.

"But you said this was all carved by water." Amara corrected.

"Yes, and it was, but that's long since dried up. This lake was a failed attempt at restoring that river, but lucky for them it added to the tourism anyway. What other canyon do you know that has a lake nearly the size of a sea?" He had found another pebble, but it also quickly fell to the bottom.

"Here." She started to look around her feet and quickly found what she needed. "It needs to be flatter and a little oval to skip the best. Also, flick your wrist and aim to just nick across the surface." She showed off the two inch long disc she had found before flinging it across the surface managing nearly eight skips.

"Nice!" He complimented before looking for the appropriate shaped rock to try again.

"When my dad took us camping, me and my sister would try to see who can skip the most. She would always say it was unfair because I was older and that somehow gave me an advantage." She laughed a bit at the memory of it. "Then my dad would take one and skip it all the wall across the river!"

"Show off!" the Doctor laughed and skipped his new and improved pebble. Amara lost count as it quickly bounced far away before finally sinking; this time being way too far off to follow it down into the depths.

"Excuse me, who's the show off?" She smiled.

"Hey! Stop disturbing the lake!" A man shouted at them as he came from the path they had. He was definitely past his middle age, but not quiet old yet. Long dark brown hair that was peppering with age at the temples was pulled back into a pony tail that reached the top of a thick belt that held up beat up and dusty pants. He had no shirt on to reveal the slightest bit of age starting to pull at his skin and muscles on his sun leathered lean body, but otherwise he looked in top shape. A way past five o'clock shadow roughed up the lines of his face. Overall, he appeared to be the color of the canyon itself and Amara couldn't tell if it was a layer of dirt and dust or if he was carved from it.

"Fred!" the Doctor called happily to him causing the man to stop and squint at him for a moment before his dark eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, I'll be!" The dirty man, Fred, continued on at a friendly stroll until he was close enough and grabbed the Doctor's hand shaking it heartily. "How have you been?"

"Fine, just fine." the Doctor smiled letting Fred shake and jostle him.

"God, it's been years! Look at you! Why is it that you only seem to get younger while I get older? How fair is that? Come on, share your secrets!" It was a good natured ribbing.

"You don't look too bad yourself." the Doctor looked him over.

"It's the Canyon, keeps me young and fit!" Fred gave his chest a swift pat with a proud smile.

"I do hope you're still giving your famous tours." the Doctor said.

"In a few minutes, but first, aren't you going to introduce me?" Fred was eyeing Amara. She smiled politely, but felt unnerved by his eyes raking up and down her.

"Amara." She introduced herself maintaining the polite smile, but she didn't offer her hand hoping he also wouldn't. However, he did and she took it just to be nice. She tried to give the hand a normal quick shake, but he turned his hand up in hers so that she was forced to bring the top of her hand near his mouth.

"It's a pleasure." He waggled eyebrows at her before planting a quick kiss to her knuckles. She resisted the urge to wipe the back of her hand on her jeans in front of him. "That made my day so much better, and now I have a tour to run. You both are coming, right?"

"Of course!" the Doctor smiled.

"All right! You know where we meet, be there in about five minutes while I gather everyone else." And with that Fred turned and left the two alone again. Amara took the chance with Fred's back turned to finally wipe her hand off.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Fred, well, he just doesn't get out of the canyon much." the Doctor apologized to her.

"He's the Fred of Fred's Tour? Seriously?" Amara whined at the thought of having to spend an 'intimate tour' with him.

"He's not all that bad! Besides, this is about the canyon, not him." The Doctor said and started for the path. Amara sighed and followed. She knew she shouldn't judge a book by its slimy cover, but Fred hadn't made the best first impression on her. It wasn't the way he was dressed, how he looked, or even really that he had tried to hit on her. She couldn't tell why, but he rubbed her the wrong way to the point that she wanted to tell the Doctor they should think twice about taking the tour. She didn't though and just followed him starting to get the feeling that this was how it would be. He would lead and she would follow, even if she wasn't always comfortable with it.


	3. Made A New Friend

They walked back the way they had come, but this time past the lift and down the other side of the canyon walls. This trail was much wider and definitely a well beaten path. It didn't take them long to catch up to and pass the main bulk of the other tourists who were still listening to the same lady from the lift.

"Oh! I forgot to ask, but what do you think happened?" Amara suddenly started up conversation.

"Hm?" the Doctor asked.

"To the lovers who jumped off the top of the canyon. You told me all kinds of other theories, but you didn't say what you thought." she explained.

"Oh, well, I believe…" he started, but then fell quiet for the moment as they had come to stand with a small group of people just as Fred walked up to the other side of them. "I believe we will find out." He said with a distinct wariness in his tone. She wanted to asked him what he meant by that, but the way he smiled towards Fred at the head of the crowd wasn't completely friendly. It looked warm and friendly enough on the surface, but she noticed a darker look in his eyes like he was troubled over something.

_We're not just sightseeing, are we?_ She questioned herself wondering if going along with him was such a great idea. A part of her was now feeling foolish for having gotten so caught up in running off with him. True, she had wanted some change and excitement in her life. How could anyone pass up the offer of traveling through space and time? Now though, she was questioning herself as to if she was actually ready for all that might entail.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get started!" Fred announced with a clap of his hands and rubbed them vigorously together. As he did, a small cloud of canyon dust exploded from them as if he had clapped together to handfuls of flour. Just as Fred started to lead everyone along, the Doctor leaned over and whispered something quick in Amara's ear. The tour started off as most do with attempts at jokes and some historical markers as they slowly made their way through the well-worn canyon paths. The Doctor and Amara stayed mostly at the tail of the small gathering of eight others and were just as quiet listening to whatever Fred had to say and point out. From time to time, Amara caught the Doctor eying Fred like he was studying him. It made her a little uneasy as if she should expect something to happen at any minute, especially with what he had whispered to her just before the tour started.

"Pay attention. Any little thing." He had whispered so fast she almost wasn't sure she processed it right.

_Is this what I want? It's not too late…_ The doubts came tumbling back; rolling her stomach slightly with it.

"All right! Now that, that nonsense the park makes me spew is out of the way we'll take a small break here before continuing on with _my_ tour!" Fred announced to the group after they entered a rounded dead end that the path had lead them to.

The walls that were around a hundred feet high were bowled slightly and smooth looking. Amara had seen the same thing before where fast water used to flow regularly over soil and rocks to smooth them down. She wandered over to one of the walls closest to her to lay her hand on it and gently rub across it to feel how smooth it had been worn. Looking up again, she could only imagine the sheer volume and force of water that used to run through here to create this. It looked as if the water flowed down from up above them, maybe as a waterfall, and them swirled the basin they were standing in before continuing on. She gave the smooth wall another final pat of a rub before turning to rejoin the group. Fred was wrapped up in talking to some of the men who had turned out to be geologists. They were drilling him for more geological history of the canyon, and even the Doctor had struck up a conversation with someone else.

"Feeling out a tad out of water?" A woman practically purred coming to stand next to Amara.

"Just a bit. Not that this isn't informative and all, it's just—" Amara started.

"Boring!" the other woman finished causing Amara to laugh a bit at her ruthless truthfulness.

"Yeah, it is!" Amara had to agree.

"Dandella." the woman held out her hand in a dainty gesture to where Amara didn't know if she was supposed to shake it or kiss it. She shook it gently to be on the safe side. Dandella was a little taller than Amara with short wavy platinum blonde hair. Her pale skin made her red lips and forest green eyes impossible to miss. Even though she was dressed ready to hike the canyon all day, she simply looked way too beautiful to be rolling around in the dirt with the boys. Amara thought she should be on the cover of a fashion magazine.

"Amara." She replied with a friendly smile.

"So, which is it?" Dandella asked.

"I'm sorry?" Amara was confused.

"Is your husband a geologist like my husband or is he some other kind of scholar?" She had gestured between the Doctor and another man talking to Fred.

"Oh no nothing like that. We're just friends and we're just along for the ride; kind of a spur of the moment thing." Was all Amara could think to say that didn't involve something along the lines of 'we just hopped from one hundred and thirty thousand years ago and another planet to be on this tour'.

"Oh! You're honest-to-God tourists!" Dandella seemed pleased.

"Is that unusual?" Amara asked.

"Not for the park, of course, but for Fred's Tour it is rare. You see, Fred's Tour is very limited and highly desired. It's one of the park's biggest money makers next to the parking fee." She rolled her eyes with a scoff indicating an outrageous fee. "How much did you pay for the tour?- No, wait, don't tell me! I know they say it is a flat fee, but some do _donate_ a little extra in hopes of a better tour. My husband and I did this tour last year and Fred took us into the caverns under the lake. I thought that was special enough because the lake caverns are a myth to most everyone else and some think it is a clever lie by the park to get more attention, but we know it's true! My husband doesn't know this, but I took a small peek at his statements and I found out he paid an extra fifty thousand credits to this tour we are on right now."

"Wow!" It really did sound like a lot to Amara, but she also wondered how credits translated to the money she knew. It sure sounded like Dandella's husband forked over a hefty amount to make this tour a special one.

"Normally, I would be mad that he spent that much, although I have to admit that I'm very curious as to what that would buy for us this time. The lake caverns only cost us the normal tour price last time." Dandella shrugged it off.

"Wait, so is everyone here today a geologist or something?" Amara looked through the crowd again. She realized they were the only two women.

"Yes. It was supposed to be a 'learning' tour, but I guess Fred opened it to you two at the last minute. I don't remember seeing your names on the list beforehand." There was suspicion laced in her tone.

"Yeah, it was pretty last minute. The Doctor is also a friend of Fred's." Amara hoped that would be enough to explain.

"Oh come on, I know what it really is." The suspicion was tightened until it was razor sharp.

"Yeah?" Amara wanted to shrink back from the look she was receiving.

"You paid more than our fifty thousand, didn't you?" The accusation was dropped low so no one else could hear it. Amara let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding and felt an immediate weight lifted. Paying more than her husband did? That's all Dandella suspected them of?

"Oh yeah, well, shush!" Amara winked and put a finger to her lips. A wicked grin spread over Dandella's lips flashing perfect teeth.

"I won't ask how much more, but I am glad you did! This tour will certainly be one to remember!" Excitement radiated from Dandella as she grabbed Amara's hands in hers and gave them a squeeze.

"Everyone rested? Made some new friends I see." Fred pointed to everyone who had paired off to talk and gossip. "That's good because we will be using a buddy system from here on out. Find someone you can mostly stand and attach yourself to them. They are your buddy. Buddies look out for each other. If one buddy is hurt, the other helps. If one buddy falls behind, you fall behind with them. You all get the idea! Stay with your buddy on this trip because I promise you it will be a very special one." A few happy whispers went up from the small gathering. Dandella still had a hold of one of Amara's hands and gave it another excited squeeze. Amara took a quick glance around and found the Doctor standing next to the same man he had already been talking to. He smiled at her and nodded his head to Dandella as if giving silent approval to stay with her. "This is your last chance to get some water, go to the bathroom, and all that business before we head off." When no one made an obvious move to do any of that Fred gave a wild toothy grin. The smile unnerved Amara, but she had no real reason to pin it on other than it looks downright sinister.

They marched back out of the dead end and were almost back to the area with the lift when Fred turned off the well beaten path and started to follow his own. There was no obvious path, foot trail, or markers yet it was clear he knew exactly where he was headed and the group followed without hesitation. Fred would throw a joke or comment back to the group every now and then, but the hike through the canyon land was mostly mellow and quiet. Everyone was watching their footing over the loose shale and bits of rock that had long since fallen from the canyon's heights. They were making their way across the canyon away from the outer walls the canyon floor before Amara realized they were walking a very old and very deep river gorge. Every now and then there would be a smooth expanse of floor or wall just like in the dead end bowl, but most of this river bed was piled with remnants of landslides and rock falls.

"Are we there yet?" Dandella jokingly whined to Amara after they had been walking for nearly two hours. Amara just giggled at her, but had to agree that she was just about tired of walking without a clear destination. Some had tried to strike up conversations every now and then, but soon fell into panting silence trying to keep up with Fred, who mercifully stopped.

"I promise the hard boring part is over." He told the group and received some thankful sighs and chuckles. "Behind me just over this rise is a finger of the lake that's reached even way over here. I don't know if you noticed, but the lake is about three miles that way." He pointed back down the canyon. "This is the fun part! The finger of the lake spills down into a cave system that has been carved by the water over the last couple thousand years since the lake was built. Now, you saw the ancient river bed we just hiked though, the cave tunnels are the same smooth shape and make perfect water slides!" With a bright smile, he turned and quickly disappeared over the rise leaving everyone wondering if they should follow at first before they finally did. Fred was waiting near what looked like a sinkhole at the end of a long winding stream. The water flowed over the edge of the hole and down into its depths. Gathering around, the group could see that there was in fact what looked like a perfectly formed water slide made out of stone disappearing into the dark. Looking back up the stream, Amara could see it wound off and disappeared into the canyon's corridors in the direction of the main body of the lake.

"You first!" One of the men joked to his partner with a nudge.

"That's exactly the idea!" Fred said. "I promise you that it's well lit down there and very safe. I've done this many times and I'm fine—I'm fine—I'm fine—I'm fine!" Fred twitched his head at every repeat of the words earning some nervous laughter. "So, who's brave enough?" No one stepped forward or made a noise immediately looking from person to person to see who would be brave or stupid enough to test it out first. Just as a couple of the men seemed to be gearing up the courage, Fred pointed to the Doctor. "Come on, old friend, I would have thought this was right up your alley."

"I thought the pleasure should go to someone else first, but if no one is willing to do it." He stepped up to take his position when a man who was closer to the hole stepped in front of him to block his progress. "Oh, pardon me!" the Doctor took a step back to keep from bumping into him. Amara recognized him as the man Dandella said was her husband.

"Jaster!" Dandella hissed at him apparently displeased with his behavior.

"You got to go first last time." He rolled his eyes at her.

"That was a walk down into the lake caverns; not a rocky water slide into oblivion!" She defended, but he wasn't listening as he sized up his approach and sat down at the edge of the hole into the water making it spill around him. She huffed heavily and crossed her arms. It dawned on Amara then that this entire time the couple never even spoke to each other and Dandella had all but latched on to Amara the minute she was able to. Maybe they simply were not a happy couple.

"Okay, just like a normal water slide." Fred was directing Jaster. "Fair warning, it does go on for a quite a bit, but it is a straight enough shot to the bottom. Just make sure to get out of the way when you get there and wait for everyone else. I cannot stress that enough! Wait for all of us to get there. Don't go wandering off because I will not be responsible for you."

"Yes, sir!" Jaster gave a half assed salute before pushing off. Everyone stepped closer to watch, but he had been quickly swallowed up by the darkness. All was silent at first except the fall of the water before Jaster's cries, mostly of fun and a few surprised ones, were heard echoing back up to them.

"Baby." Dandella scoffed under her breath rolling her eyes when a surprised yelp floated up.

"Let's keep this party going!" Fred grinned and waved over Jaster's partner. Another group went before the Doctor and his partner went with Fred making them wait a few moments to make sure there would be some distance between sliders.

"Sorry you didn't get to go first this time, Doctor." Fred apologized helping him into position.

"That's alright. I'm just glad I even get to do this. Geronimo!" and with that he shoved off and also disappeared into the dark with excited shouts all the way until they faded.

"Ladies?" Fred waggled eyebrows at them both and held out his hand. Dandella made no move to go, but Amara didn't want to be the last one alone with Fred so she went before the last group of men, who still seemed to be debating their own courage, decided to. Instead of taking his hand, she quickly sat down in the water and bit back a gasp not thinking that it would be cold.

"Legs out in front, lay back if you need to, and let the slide guide you to the bottom." Fred directed putting a hand low on her back. She quickly pushed off not giving him the chance to push her and touch her any more than he already had.


	4. Elvis Popped Out

At first she was blinded by darkness with only the sound of her sliding on smooth stone and the cascading water helping her along. She could feel her eyes working over time trying to find light or anything they could focus on, but otherwise she actually felt safe. The slide was headed down at a steep enough angle to keep her moving along and the smooth banks of the wide curves were gentle and fun. Of course, as with all good scares, just as she got comfortable enough the bottom felt like it dropped out on her as the slide suddenly took a sharper plunge downward making her yelp in surprise. Reflexively her hands and feet tried to push against the sides to slow herself down, but it was too smooth to have any effect. After a few quicker, tighter turns the bottom dropped again at an even steeper angle. Somewhere above her, she could hear Dandella making frightened squeals and yelps in the dark. Up ahead a soft glowing of light caught her attention and she felt some relief now that she'd be able to see what was coming up next. She only saw it all for a moment laid out in front of her before she dropped through the air. For the briefest moment, she saw the slide she had been going down was a completely rounded smooth tunnel and it opened up into a large cave. Before she could completely register it though, her brief fall was shattered by a solid base of water that quickly swallowed her up. She almost instantly felt her feet hit the bottom and she pushed up to break the surface to find she was standing in only three feet of crystal clear waters.

"Pay up! I told you she'd get a good five feet off the end of it!" One man happily shouted while she wiped at her face to clear it of water and hair.

"You would have thought Mang would have gone the farthest with his weight on the slide." Another man grumbled.

"Were you taking bets on how far I'd go flying?" Amara couldn't help but smile at that as she waded out of the water and up the small incline to where everyone else who had gone before her was standing still drying off from their ride. The Doctor held out his hand for her to grab and helped her up out of the water.

"It was Robert's idea!" The man who apparently lost the wager pointed to the one collecting money. Before Amara could make another comment on it, a terrified scream broke through and Dandella came flying from the chute and landed almost completely flat on her back before sinking into the water. She was up with a sharp gasp an instant later and her eyes were as wide as her mouth in shock. To Amara's surprise though, the man who had lost the wager had sprung into action and was instantly in the water wading to her side to help her out of it constantly asking if she was okay and comforting her. It only surprised Amara because of how fast he had gotten to her and he seemed like he really cared about her, but Dandella didn't say friends of hers had come along on this trip. In fact, she had made it sound like she was only there with her husband.

"That was certainly different!" Amara said to the Doctor turning her back on the scene knowing Dandella was fine and seemed to be in the hands of a friend.

"Oh, yes. That certainly is different." He said, but it sounded more of an automated response as he was busy looking at other tunnels of various sizes that split off from the cavern they were in.

"The water slide, I mean." She crossed her arms partly to hug herself from the chill of the water and partly in attitude feeling ignored by him.

"Yes, yes. Waterslide are fun." He said in the same distracted way. He was now standing at the entrance of one of the tunnels running a hand over the rock surfaces just on the inside and outside of it in comparison of the surfaces.

"Being in the dark most of the way was pretty fun. Kind of like being in those cheesy haunted houses where the darkness makes the smallest things seem like the biggest bumps in the night." She continued knowing full well he wasn't actually listening to her.

"Lots of fun." He was now kneeling just inside the tunnel apparently examining the floor and some of the rocks scattered there.

"Yeah, especially the part where Elvis popped out asking directions to Neverland." Amara threw out casually just to see what she could get away with.

"Hm, yes—what?" He looked back over his shoulder at her briefly with a raised eyebrow, but didn't wait for an answer turning back to pick up a rock and looked it over before licking it and gave a thoughtful expression as if trying to decipher what seasonings were on it.

"Did you just lick a rock?" Amara asked.

"I'm sorry, did you want one too?" He grabbed another one and handed it up to her. She shook her head so he dropped it back to the ground standing and dusting off his hands. "Have you been paying attention?" His tone had gone from inquisitive about his surroundings to hushed.

"To what exactly?" She asked. She did remember his whispered words from earlier, but she was still not sure what exactly he meant by it.

"Everything." His eyes bore into her as if trying to pick out what she might know.

"Well, I did notice a lot of things, but what do you mean? Why are we here? It not just to walk around the canyon, is it?" Amara wanted answers now that she knew something was up. She had thought it was kind of weird and even disappointing that with his wonderful machine he brought her to a very Earth-like canyon out of all the places they could have gone. Yes, the canyon had been beautiful and everything they had seen so far was interesting to an extent, but she had the distinct feeling there had to be more to this little excursion. His behaviors only helped push that thought along.

"Dandella seems really attached to you. I heard her talking to you the whole time. What has she been telling you?" He ignored her questions.

"Mostly about herself." Amara sighed feeling frustrated that she wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him. "She said that people pay a lot just to get into this tour, but some will pay extra to make the tour more special. She said her husband, Jaster, paid an extra fifty thousand credits to this tour." The Doctor whistled at that with raised eyebrows. _So, it is a lot_, she confirmed with herself.

"He must have really wanted to make this special then." He commented looking back over the tunnel he had been examining.

"Doctor, please tell me why we're here." She said trying to give her best 'this is serious and I want answers now' warning glare. He simply regarded her for a moment before his eyes flicked up to something behind her.

"Just stay close to Dandella for now and keep paying attention." He hurriedly said in the hushed way once again, but before Amara could protest Dandella was already at her side and was looping an arm in hers.

"Trying to steal my buddy!" Dandella playfully accused the Doctor.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" He flashed a friendly smile.

"Come along, Amara dear!" She started to drag her off. Amara glanced back at the Doctor and he made a shooing hand gesture as if to push her along. In a culmination of her frustration with him, although knowing it would look childish, she stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to Dandella who didn't seem to notice the exchange. By then, the other two men and Fred found their way down the slide tunnel and dried off a bit while Fred gathered everyone around.

"Are we all still here?" Fred asked no one in particular as he counted heads. "Good! All right, we'll stick around this main room just a bit longer while we all dry off before we head on."

"Let them drip dry on the way!" Jaster impatiently sighed from somewhere in the back of the group. Dandella hid her face in a hand, but Amara could tell it was more so to control her temper towards her husband rather than to hide her embarrassment. Definitely not a happy couple.

"Okay then, all in favor of a squishy walk?" Fred offered to the group and seven hands shot up. Amara wasn't surprised to see that many geologists wanted to see more of the interesting cave, but she was somewhat surprised to see the Doctor's hand one of the most eager ones up there practically creating a breeze from waving around. "Majority wins! Personally, I'd like to dry off some more, but I am also so very excited to show you what I have down here for you all this time."

_Why don't I like that? Why does he rub me the wrong way?_ Amara thought as she started to follow Dandella and the rest of the group. _And the Doctor, he knows something, but he's being so difficult about it. Is it that bad?_

"Are you okay?" Dandella asked.

"Oh, um, yeah I'm fine. Why?" Amara shook her head clear of the thoughts.

"You just look bothered." Dandella was a beacon of concern.

"It's just been a very long day so far." Amara tried to blow it off with a smile.

"I saw the little tiff between you and your 'friend' earlier." Dandella started sympathetically.

"Oh, no, we weren't fighting or anything." Amara shook her head again.

"Oh, please! I know what I saw. He was talking down to you and you were just trying to get answers. Believe me; I know those fights all too well." Dandella gave her a knowing look that was dipped in sympathy.

"We may have hit a wall, but we weren't fighting. All good friends do from time to time." Amara insisted. Dandella nodded and didn't push it further, but it was obvious she didn't really believe Amara. _Besides, I'm still trying to figure him out. I only met him this morning._ After that thought, it seemed to really dawn on her that it truly had been a very long day since she very first ran into the strange man earlier in the day. It also seemed the day was far from over yet.


	5. Loose Lips

He really was trying his best to be polite, but the Doctor couldn't help thinking he should have chosen a quieter buddy. Maybe it would have been better if he had insisted Amara be his partner for this excursion, but Dandella had attached herself to her before he really had the chance. Jude, the conversationalist at the Doctor's side, seemed more than pleased to be paired with someone who wasn't a colleague and seemed more than happy to give him private lectures on the various rocks they saw. Jude was so talkative that even when he asked the Doctor a question he simply continued and the Doctor let him. The Doctor was far too busy trying to add up everything he had seen so far.

Glancing back at Amara for a moment, he could her brow was furrowed in some kind of thought or agitation. He really wanted to ask her more, but there were too many other people and once Dandella recovered from her watery ride she had sought out Amara. He knew Amara had more to say. He had watched her eyes trace the shape of the tunnel he had been examining, he saw the recognition flash in her eyes, and saw her take a quick glance at the chute they had slide down. She had noticed something. It would have to wait until he could get more of a chance to talk to her again and he hoped she was continuing to pay attention.

"Doctor, are you even paying attention?" Jude broke through his thoughts.

"Yes, sorry, just trying to also pay attention to what Fred is saying. Multitasking is not a strong suit of mine." He faked an apology.

"I'm sorry. I know I tend to blather on quite a bit. Please, just tell me when to be quiet and I will! It has been one of my weak points and even the university board has let me know that several complaints from students and other teachers alike about how I tend to run on and on in the classes is causing some to be late has been brou—" Jude really was trying his best to be nice, but his mouth just wouldn't stop.

"Professor Jude, would you keep it down just a bit so I can hear the tour?" The Doctor looked over at the man who was his exact height. For a moment, Jude gave a hurtful expression, but then it melted into a smile.

"Oh, please, just Jude is fine, but do you see? That's exactly what I mean! Please don't be afraid to tell me those kinds of things; I honestly won't be offended in the slightest and sometimes it really does take someone being a bit firm with me to—" He had started to ramble on again even as the Doctor audibly sighed in annoyance.

"JUDE! He said to shut it!" Jaster glared over his shoulder. Jude immediately clamped his mouth shut and made a zipping and locking motion across his mouth pretending to throw a small key away.

_Rude, but thank you!_ The Doctor couldn't help but think. However, now that Jude was quieted for the time being, that left the dull mumbling of other whispered conversations and Fred's louder voice over it recounting stories of his adventures down in the caves.

So far, they were still walking along the banks of the mostly shallow underground river in the same great room that seem to go on for a long time. It was all dull grey rocks lit every twenty feet or so by soft glowing flameless torches bolted to the walls. It was just enough light to see everything around them. It also served to cast spiked almost monster teeth-like shadows around the room from the various stalactites and stalagmites. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary or particularly spectacular about the caves. Every now and then a tunnel of varying size would break off from the main room and they were all the same smooth rounded shapes. They were obviously not natural, but they were also old and had been there for some time yet were well used. Why didn't anyone else see it or bother to question it? This was supposed to be a group of geologists after all. The Doctor decided it was time to get some answers and he knew of one person who was very willing to talk.

"Professor Jude—sorry, just Jude—what do you make of these tunnels?" The Doctor pointed to one as they passed it. It was just tall enough for them to stoop into and so far had been the smaller of the ones he had seen.

"The tunnels?" Jude blinked at him for a moment before looking at it. He looked as if he was really seeing it for the first time. "Oh, well, I supposed it was formed by water. Yes, it has to be the water. If you look up you can see how the water has left lines even in the ceiling of this room." Jude pointed up, but the Doctor didn't look. He didn't need to.

"Jude, there are no water lines. This little river here has been constant for a very long time. Those tunnels were not formed by water." The Doctor calmly told him watching as confusion and thought ran over the professor's middle aged face.

"O-oh, yes, I see. Well, uh…. There has to be some other natural explanation." Jude was becoming increasingly unnerved by the second until the unease was radiating off of him.

"Jude, listen to me." The Doctor touched the man's arm brining him to a stop so they could talk face to face while everyone passed them by. Only Amara who was bringing up the rear of the group with Dandella looked back at them and slowed in her pace to see what was going on. "Do you know what's going on down here? Do you know what's so very wrong with this picture?"

"L-look, I can't say. I really can't." beads of sweat had already begun to form on the man's brow as he pleaded.

"Tell me." The Doctor demanded keeping his voice low and trying to keep the eyes of the other man. Jude kept glancing back at the group ahead of them. The Doctor took a quick glance and saw two faces looking back: Amara's worried inquisitive one and Jaster's angry one. "Jude!"

"Yes, w-what?" The rattle man jumped at the stern authority in his voice.

"Just at the very least tell me if we are in any danger." The Doctor had toned down hoping he could coax some kind of an answer out of him.

"We shouldn't be…this time of year…" Jude finally allowed in a whisper after struggling with it for a few moments.

"Is there a problem?" Jaster asked as he approached them.

"N-No, not at all!" Jude was all too quick to answer wiping at his sweat drenched face. "He was only helping me with one of my little panic attacks. I'm ever so embarrassed I had to put you through that, but I do appreciate your help." Jude took some deeper breaths and put a hand to his chest as if recovering from a pain.

"Just take it easy, all right? No need to push yourself so hard." The Doctor easily played along with a friendly smile and a small pat to the man's arm.

"Did you remember to take your medicine today?" Jaster asked Jude. There was still an edge of suspicion in his expression, but it was quickly vanishing. Obviously, this has happened to Jude before.

"Truthfully, I got excited and forgot when I was packing to come along this morning. I do have an extra vial here with me. Just give me a moment to catch my breath." Jude fumbled a slightly trembling hand into one of his pockets and produced a small silver vial which he unscrewed and quickly downed the contents of in front of Jaster.

"Don't slow this tour down anymore." Jaster scoffed and returned to the main part of the group that had by now stopped completely to see what was happening behind them.

"I'm sorry." Jude whispered once more to the Doctor and left him to rejoin the group as well.

"Let's hope not." He whispered back walking with him giving Amara a slight nod as he passed her. She didn't look convinced that everything was all right and he didn't blame her.

"Are we okay back there?" Fred called back.

"Right as rain!" Jude called up to him. Fred went back to what he had been saying and the tour moved forward again. Jude kept playing the act of recovering from an attack, which may have only been a partial act, while Jaster took a couple more glances back at him as if to make sure that's what happened. A few of the other men asked if he was okay and sympathized. Apparently, Jude was known for his nonstop mouth and his attacks.

"Well, at least he can be a gentleman to other gentlemen." Dandella commented flatly. It took Amara a moment to understand what she was getting at.

"Dandella, seriously, we weren't fighting. He's not like that." She sighed. _I don't really know though. I'm certainly going to give him an earful next time we can talk!_

"I know not all men are like my Jaster, but sometimes I wonder." Dandella also sighed and was boring eyes into the back of the man who had helped her earlier.


	6. Oddly Thrilling

"What did you mean by 'this time of year' that we should be safe?" the Doctor whispered to Jude, but the shaken man next to him remained dutifully quiet for the first time since the tour began. "Jude." He tried again, but the other man only shook his head against it and picked up his pace a bit to walk ahead of the Doctor. _Not good…_

"What's the story with him?" Amara pointed to Jude.

"Professor Jude? I really don't know why he's here to be honest. It's not that he's a bad professor, he's just, well, not in with the others." Dandella explained with a shrug.

"You mean that the others don't really care for him." Amara corrected.

"You know how it is. You have your groups of elites, whether they actually earned it or bought their way in, and then you have the ones like Professor Jude who by all rights should be in there yet just simply are not." She once again shrugged like it was accepted fact.

_Oh god it's high school!_ Amara sighed to herself.

"I mean, if he'd just learn to fit in better and if he didn't have those attacks then he'd be good as gold." Dandella flashed a smile over at Amara, but it faltered a bit when she caught the disapproving look she was receiving. "Don't look at me like that! That's just how the world works and you know it. It's not always right, but there you are."

"I'm sorry, but if that's 'right' then I'd rather be wrong and happy knowing I'm being true to myself instead of trying to fit some lie just because others expect it." Amara shook her head.

"Then you'd be alone and wrong." The cutting edge in Dandella's voice caught Amara off guard. It also made her somewhat feel disappointed if certain things had not changed in the last hundred thousand years. When most think about the future compared to the past they expect big changes to be made in terms of how people treat each other, but clearly much of what she knew was still the exact same. Letting out a huff of a sigh and giving up on that line of conversation, they continued on in silence for a while until Fred brought the group to a stop at the end of the great room.

"From here on out the buddy system will be especially important. The paths will vary in size and height. Obviously some of us may have more trouble with it than others." Fred glanced at Jude and then over to the larger man named Meng. "As I said before, if your buddy falls behind, then you fall behind. Help your buddy out and this whole thing will move a lot easier for all of us. Now, you will notice that arrows in different colors will be on the walls and floors. We're following the RED arrows today. Which ones are we following?" Everyone chorused back the word 'red' to him. "If you fall behind and lose sight of everyone else, just keep following the red arrows until you catch up. This little hike should take about another three hours or so before we reach the top again if we all keep a good pace. There'll be a dinner at the other end, _if_ you make it there." Fred made a mocking sinister smile to which a few made scoffed laughs at. After a few more repeated instruction and dodging questions of what was so special on this tour, Fred lead the group off again.

"How are you holding up back here?" the Doctor asked Amara when he fell back several steps to walk with her.

"Oh, just fine." She glanced at Dandella.

"Want to switch buddies for a little while?" He asked over Amara to her.

"And be with Jude?" She was almost disgusted with the offer.

"He's quite content to stay quiet now." the Doctor tried to push on.

"You just want to steal her away from me!" Dandella put an arm around Amara's shoulder to pull her close.

"Actually, yes, I'd like to." He admitted with a sad kind of look that Amara would call the 'puppy dog eyes'. "Just for a little while, I promise."

"Oh…All right!" She quickly melted under the look and took her arm from Amara.

"I expect her back in the same condition I left her." She shook a finger at him.

"Scout's honor!" He gave a two fingered salute to her. She gave an odd look at it, but shook her head with a smile and hurried up to catch up with Jude. Jude glanced back with an almost hurt look, but didn't make a comment.

"I think you broke his heart." Amara teased.

He brushed it off and put a hand on her shoulder to slow them down several more steps behind the group. "So, tell me more."

"Nah-uh! You have explaining to do first!" She lightly swat the arm closest to her.

"Okay, fine, I came here for a reason but I also did really want to show you this place and I actually did mean to come on this tour." He admitted.

"So, what's going on?" She pushed him to tell more.

"I was looking up this tour to make sure it was still here I remembered this was one of the better years for the tours. The picture of Fred was different though. I don't just mean like he aged or changed his style. I mean that's not Fred." He continued on looking ahead of the group towards the man called Fred. They had entered a tunnel that was half the height of the great room and still large, but obviously narrowing as they went. It wouldn't be long before it would be a tight fit for two people walking side by side.

"He recognized you earlier though. How did you know him before? Who is that now if that's not Fred? What else is going on here? What did you want me to pay attention too?" the questioned flowed and each one was more demanding than the last.

"The girl with a million questions, chill out!" He whispered and took a glance around to make sure no one else was listening in. "That's good though, that's very good. Questions are always good. You can bring down a whole system just by asking 'why'."

"Why?" She glared at him making the point.

"There were several comments attached to the canyon visitor information about this tour about how people have gone missing. It didn't take me long to find the information that something on the order of thirty individuals have actually been reported missing after booking this tour. The canyon park itself claims they have no knowledge of it and even local authorities deny it."

"Conspiracy theory?"

"Those are the worst kind of theories because that means two things usually are happening: one that something is going on and is being covered up and two others are in denial of it because the truth is too much."

"Does it have to do with the tunnels? I heard a little bit of what you and Professor Jude were talking about."

"I think so. These are not naturally made tunnels. Well, they are, but they aren't supposed to be here."

"What made them?"

"I think we will find out before long. What else had Dandella told you?"

"Oh, let's see… Her husband paid a large amount on top of the normal fee to make the tour special and people do that often. She's hates him and I think she likes someone else. She agrees Fred is a creep. She hated the waterslide. Nothing really useful."

"It can all be useful, but yeah that sounds boring. What does her husband do?"

"I don't know really. I think he's a geologist like everyone else."

"No, not like everyone else. I believe he calls the shots, but Meng is actually the board leader at their university. Jude is the lowest on the ladder, but not because of his knowledge or work. He's actually very smart. They don't like him."

"I gathered that from Dandella. I tell you, not much has changed and that makes me sad."

"Well, what did you expect?"

"Obviously too much."

"Amara, there are some truly great things out there and some wonderful people. I promise you that."

"Okay." She nodded, but didn't sound completely convinced.

"What do you think these tunnels look like?" He decided to continue on for now.

"Like burrows. I can see the scrape marks all the way around and they are too perfect to have been made by water alone, but it's been a while since it was regularly used because unbroken stalactites and stalagmites have been growing here." She glanced around them. "At least that's what I see."

"Yes, I agree." He sighed a bit. She had confirmed exactly what he had been seeing. "Do me a favor, Amara, don't tell Dandella anything about this, who we are, or where we are from."

"Of course. It'll be easy because I don't even know anything about you and I'm not sure of the mechanics of how we even got here." She rolled her eyes at the thought of the whirlwind day she had been having. She might have been taking it well so far, but it was far from fully sinking in.

"Just keep paying attention." He said.

"You would tell me if we were in danger, right?" She asked looking up at him.

"Of course." He smiled down at her.

"We are so past that point, aren't we?" She couldn't stop the smile from tugging at her lips.

"Yup!" He nodded and they continued on staying a little bit behind, but keeping the group well within sight.


	7. Run Around

The tour kept stumbling through the tunnels. The flameless torches were becoming fewer in between leaving them all in moments of near total darkness. Fred kept reassuring everyone that what he wanted to show them wasn't much farther. Conversations had died down into soft pants during the hike and concentrated stares on the path ahead to void tripping on anything. For the most part, the path was smooth with an occasional rise and fall. The sides and ceiling would come in and out at them making some have to stoop or curve their bodies around to get through. There were almost audible sighs of relief when the path would widen again.

"Have you seen Jaster?" Dandella asked falling behind a little bit to talk to Amara.

"Um, no. Isn't he up there with Meng?" Amara gestured to the front of the group. That was the last place she had seen him, but looking ahead now through the people she couldn't seem to find him either.

"How long ago did you notice?" The Doctor asked.

"About five minutes ago, but I thought that maybe he was just hidden from view." Dandella answered him. By now, Jude had glanced back at them a few times finally also falling back to be closer to them.

"Jaster went down a side path not that long ago." He whispered quickly to them before quickening his pace to rejoin the rest of the group. So far, no one else seemed to notice the small gathering at the rear of the group or that Jaster was gone. Even Fred carried on without a care.

"I don't like this." The Doctor said to no one and turned on his heel to go back down the path.

"Wait!" Amara called after him.

"Where are you going?" Dandella tugged at the back of her shirt.

"To find your husband apparently." Amara followed the Doctor with Dandella in tow.

"Ah-ha!" The Doctor said once he found an off chute that seemed to please him. It was one of only a few that was big enough to allow a person through, even if they had to squeeze and push past the initial tight entrance first. It opened up after into a path big enough for two people to walk comfortably side by side.

"I have no idea why he would do something like this." Dandella scoffed, but then just as quickly yelped when the Doctor turned on her.

"Do something like what exactly?" He asked staring her down.

"I don't know! I have no idea what's going on!" She stood up to him after a moment. He continued to stare down her for a moment longer before continuing down the path.

"Dandella, do you know anything at any of this at all?" Amara decided to step in.

"No, I really don't. He's the one that wanted to go on these stupid excursions for the past year. Do I look like the kind of woman who wants to be rolling around in the dirt all day? He's the one that paid the extra fifty thousand credits to this stupid thing. That was supposed to be for our second honeymoon! This whole thing is just stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She stomped a foot hard on all three of the words, her breath coming out shaky as she tried to breath deep her fists clenching and unclenching.

"Better?" Amara asked carefully.

"Yes, thank you." Dandella sniffled and calmed herself. "Shall we continue?"

"Are you sure?" Amara asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." She reassured with a smile and calmly walked past as if ready for a stroll through a park.

_Wow. I can't really blame her, but wow._ Amara thought about the outburst as she walked alongside Dandella following the Doctor who led the way down the path.

They walked on with little more than a few words spoken. At first, the path got darker and darker as they got farther from the main path they had been following. All along the walls were the same painted arrows they had seen in before, but there was only one color here; red. Fred has said they were supposed to follow the red colored arrows. Why were these ones leading away from the path they were on before? These arrows looked much fresher and brighter than the other ones like a new path had been marked. The same flameless torches were mounted to the walls down this path, but much further in between than before. It was literally just enough light. Amara let her hand run over the various rocks and stalagmites as they passed by. She liked the feel of the smooth cool textures under her skin. She spotted what looked like the top of a perfectly round orb sticking up out of another rock and let her hand run over it like she had let her hand run over other rocks.

Amara wasn't entirely sure how it happened. One minute she was walking with Dandella while somewhat zoning out and touching at rocks that came into reach as they walked, and then the next she was being roughly pulling along by the Doctor who had a firm grip on her wrist as he ran at top speed making her keep up. He had yelled something at her that didn't sink in right away, but she later recognized as 'run'. Glancing back, she saw Dandella looking shocked and trying to keep up. Further behind her, something was moving in the cave they had all just been walking through. No, it wasn't just something moving down the narrow path, it was the cave itself that was moving! The floor of the cave to be exact. It started as a low rumble and then a curl started like a small wave before it began to get slightly bigger and longer in its roll, as if someone picked up and snapped the other end of the path. Smaller rocks bounced and fell out of the way, dust was kicked up, and it just kept coming. Just as it seemed it would be at their backs, they made a small hop over a slight raise in the path and the Doctor finally stopped to turn around. Turning to look Amara saw the roll of the ground seem to reach its end at the small raise they had just hopped over which started to quiver and shake.

"What is that!" Amara asked still trying to fully catch her breath after the sudden made dash. Dandella was panting behind her sounding on the edge of having a panic attack. As they watched, the quivering rise of dirt lifted up out of the ground and a similar edge came down from the ceiling.

"What do you think it is?" the Doctor asked in return. He seemed much calmer with the situation and even intrigued.

"It looks like a…mouth." Amara ventured not really sure, but it certainly looked like two lips or at least edges of a mouth coming down together. It certainly wasn't a door of any kind and it couldn't be a rock or even a boulder slide. This was way too controlled for that and the rumbling stopped at the two halves nearly touched.

"That's exactly what that is." He said still taking it all in.

"A mouth…a mouth…a mouth!" Dandella had started to panic.

"A nice big one too!" He whistled and started to approach it.

"Doctor!" Amara grabbed his arm.

"It's alright." He took his arm back and continued until he was standing just half a step away from the now slightly parted dirt mouth. "You weren't going to eat us, were you? No, of course you weren't! You just don't like people walking on your tongue and touching your uvula. I wouldn't care for that either although that almost happened to me once. Well, I mean tiny people were walking all over me. It was like Gulliver's Travels, really!"

"Doctor, not to interrupt, but what is it?" Amara had braved a couple steps closer while Dandella clung to a wall behind Amara.

"It's a worm, of course!" He smiled back to her before turning back to the dirt covered worm.

"Really? So it's not dangerous at all?" Amara had edged her way over to his side to get a closer look.

"What worm do you know that eats people?" He asked. She looked up at him to say what was on her mind, but he frowned before she could actually say it. "Star Wars doesn't count. That wasn't a real worm and there's no worm in the universe like that." She giggled a bit and started to say something else. "Tremors aren't real either."

"Okay, okay. So, we just walked into a worm that embedded itself in a cave with its mouth open. Why was it just lying there like that?" Amara couldn't take her eyes off the creature in front of her. It was the exact color of the cave inside and out. The parted mouth was moving up and down softly as if breathing, but no breath of any kind could be felt. Amara could smell something though. It was the scent of moist earth after a fresh rain.

"Resting most likely." The Doctor shrugged as he looked it over and walked side to side in front of it to see how much space it was taking up. Most of it still seemed to be embedded in the walls, ceiling, and floor around them.

"With its mouth open?" Amara asked and started to reach out. She placed a hand as gently as she could on what she guessed was its lip area right in front of her. It felt like regular dirt and rocks, but there was a slight warmth and hum underneath it all. The Doctor watched her do this and started to smile.

"It was going to eat us!" Dandella practically screamed from behind them making them both turn as if they had forgotten she was still there.

"I highly doubt it." He shook his head.

"We walked into its mouth and it was going to eat us!" She was starting to back away from them with a wild panicked look as her eyes darted from them to the worm behind them.

"That's impossible. First of all, it doesn't even have the proper digestive system to process us. Second, like all land based worms, it eats dirt. Lastly, it's just a baby." He explained calmly.

"A baby? How can you tell?" Amara asked looking back to the impressively sized worm.

"This one is the smallest one I have seen for starters, and there's no teeth to—" He started.

"Teeth! The bigger ones have teeth!" Dandella had reached the height of her panic and turned to bolt down the path.

"Dandella!" Amara called after her and started to follow, but he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Let her go." He told her and turned back to the worm. "So, why were you just lying around with your mouth open?" He seemed to be asking the worm and had taken out his sonic screwdriver. He messed with it and the crystal blinked off and on as the device emitted various noises. For the most part the worm didn't do anything differently and remained sitting in its spot with a slightly parted mouth. It wasn't until the sonic screwdriver made a low rumbling version of its usually buzzing noise did the worm have a reaction. The tunnel shook violently making both the Doctor and Amara cover their heads from the shower of dirt and small debris. The worm seemed to have scooted back several feet when it all stopped.

"What did you do?" Amara asked slowly uncovering her head.

"Interesting." Was all the Doctor said before making the noise again. Once again, the tunnel shuttered and shook as the worm jerked back from him again. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Shh, it's okay." He soothed and quickly put away the screwdriver.

"You scared it." Amara realized it.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just curious." He still was talking more so to the worm as he carefully approached it and gently put a hand on it as Amara had done earlier. After a moment, the tunnel rumbled again, but it was low and more of a constant vibration rather than the earthquake they had felt before when it was scared. The worm continued to move back from them and seemed to be following the tunnel away.

"Where is it going?" Amara asked watching it go. Where the worm had been embedded into the wall was smoothed away as if shaved off for several feet all the way around. It was the same smooth scrapings from the other tunnels.

"Let's find out!" He was nearly beside himself with excitement as he started to follow behind the worm.

"How does it know where it's going?" She asked walking next to him. They had no problem keeping up even at a leisurely stroll.

"These worms don't have eyes so it doesn't actually need to see where it is going. Tell me, when you touched it, what did you feel?" He asked.

"It felt warm and there was this hum or buzz kind of." She recalled the sensation.

"You were feeling the warmth of a living creature and that slight vibration was the billions and billions of tiny claws all over its body that move it through the tunnels. That's what is scraping the rocks and dirt into fine dust that it eats. It makes these smooth walls." He side stepped in his walking to get closer to the wall nearest him to run a hand along it.

"But if it eats dirt why do the bigger ones needs teeth and how big do they get?" She continued on.

"You really aren't scared, are you?" He asked.

"I was more scared when you suddenly grabbed me and we were running. Besides, giant earthworms are not the strangest things I have seen today by far!" She giggled.

"No, I suppose not." He gave a soft laugh. "You know that main room we came down into?"

"Yeah?"

"Bigger!"

"That's ginormous!"

"Even bigger than ginormous! They need the teeth to help break down the really large boulders in mountains. I said baby earlier, but this one is more of a toddler compared to other ones I have seen. In fact, the majority of tunnels down here seem to be by younger worms. If there had been bigger ones, you would have clearly seen it! What's really weird though is that most planets out here have a handful of these worms, and I do mean just a few per planet. They can live hundreds of years and keep growing all that time. When they are born they are the size of a small car and each worm usually only has one maybe two offspring in their entire lives. These caves look like at very least five different young worms have been here."

"How can you tell there were than many? What if it was only this one?"

"Each worm has a signature in the marks they leave behind in the same way leopard spots or zebra stripes do. They look incredibly similar at a distance, but close up you can tell. See? Look at the patterns on the walls its creating as it moves. All those billions and billions of tiny claws move in a slightly different way on each worm and create slightly different looking scrapes." He stopped them for the moment so they could look closer at a wall. Upon closer inspection, Amara could see that the scrapings from this worm were wavy, like how sand looks after a wave has washed over it. Feeling the wall, it felt perfectly smooth even though the wavy lines were visible.

"You sure do know a lot about these worms." She remarked when they continued on their way.

"I wanted one when I was younger, but my parents wouldn't let me. Said it was too _big_ of a responsibility." He shrugged.

"That was bad." She shook her head, but couldn't help the smile.

"What? It's true!" He defended.

"Sure." She rolled her eyes.

"You have to admit, I would have turned a lot of heads taking the giant worm for a walk." He joked earning a laugh from her.


	8. Dastardly Plans

"Dandella! Where have you been?" Jaster asked as his wife causally strode around the corner as if she was simply passing from room to room in their own house.

"I had to make sure I lost those other two. Last time I saw them, they were with Number 3." A wicked smile split her lips and her pure white teeth seemed to almost glow in the near darkness of the tunnel.

"Ooo, you naughty girl!" Jaster's own face twisted into a copy of her smile as he jumped up from his spot where he had been using a rock as a chair. He grabbed her up into a tight hug and gave a swift hard kiss before spinning her around making her squeal in delight. "You just left them with Number 3? They didn't try to follow you or stop you or anything at all?"

"You'd be so proud of Jude, darling!" She stayed securely snuggled in his embrace as she ran her fingers through his hair. "When they realized you were missing Jude jumped right up to the plate and pointed them in Number 3's direction. I went along for safe measure to make sure they would stumble into him and they did. You know what sucked though?" She stopped the fingernail massage on his head and pouted.

"Yes, my goddess?" Jaster asked slightly disappointed that she had stopped.

"If Amara hadn't touched Number 3's uvula, they would be gone. I was just starting to fall back, but she made him gag and they ran out just in the nick of time." She pouted the whole explanation.

"Honey, what I have I told you?" He gave her a played at hard look.

"I know. I shouldn't learn their names because they are our food." She rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'm attached to them at all. That girl is just so…plain! And that man, that Doctor as he calls himself, who the hell still wears a bow tie?"

"I know, baby cakes, but Number 3 won't care what they're wearing. It's like the wrap on a spring roll to him; it's all edible." Jaster shrugged it off and finally released his wife form their embrace.

"And by the time they are ready for us to feast upon…" She licked her lips seductively.

"They'll just be putty in our hands!" He licked at his own lips.

"Literally!" She added before he swooped in to take her mouth again. Excited, and decidedly maniacal, giggles broke out between their kisses.


	9. They're Not From Around Here

"Doc~tor, seriously." Amara whined and dragged her feet for a few steps.

"It can't be much further." He sighed in annoyance.

"Like the last two miles or so weren't 'much further'?" She sassed back at him. He spared a quick glance at her in disbelief that she was acting this way. Okay, so she had a point that they had been walking longer than he thought they would and she hadn't been exaggerating about the distance which was starting to worry him. These worms could dig literally for miles and he was starting to wonder if the worm was simply trying to move farther away from them or if it was actually headed for a specific destination. Just as he was wondering this, the worm slowed even more in its pace and even stopped briefly before moving on. This time however, it was very clear right away that it was no longer tunneling and just moving on through a larger space. There was no longer the dull drone of rocks being ground out of its way, but more of a sliding on sand noise now.

"We're there." He announced.

"You think?" Amara said looking ahead. The worm had slid out of the way to reveal a massive cavern. It was bowl shaped and smoothly worn. It had to be several hundred feet high and even wider making an oval shaped room. It was well light in every corner with larger versions of the flameless torches. With the pale earth colors, Amara couldn't help but feel like she was standing on the inside of a gigantic egg. Below them in the cupped center in a pit of sand where the worm they had been following was headed sat three other worms all about the same size. The one they had been following slid straight up to them and seemed to plow into the middle of them as if cowering or simply trying to find a comfortable place to be.

"It's their nursery." The Doctor commented. He looked to her and a grin was splitting his face from ear to ear. It was contagious and she soon found a smile forming on her lips as well. "Come on!" He grabbed her hand and started to propel them forward towards the cluster of baby worms. Amara was relieved to find that while the sides and walls looked supremely smooth her shoes still caught ample traction to keep from simply sliding down the curved sides.

"Hello, little ones!" He announced as they got closer. He had the voice of someone greeting small, cute, fluffy kittens.

"There's four of them. Looks like they're all here." Amara peered around doing another count.

"There might be one or two more digging about." He shrugged. While he was walking back and forth looking them over, she put her hand on one closest to her.

"They're so warm!" She remarked taking her hand back. They weren't burning hot, but definitely warmer than the gentle living warmth she had felt earlier. For that matter, even the fine sand beneath their feet felt like it was radiating heat like a beach on a sunny day.

"Yes, get a mass of any living creatures together and they are bound to generate heat." It sounded more absentmindedly remarked than directly answering her as he still walking around them. He made a complete circuit before coming to stand near her again with hands on his hips. "How did they all get here though? They are clearly all from the same mother worm."

"Clearly." Amara echoed and looked at them again although she couldn't tell at all. They all looked the same to her. Giant lumps of warm living rock shaped like Tylenol capsules.

"They all look the same age too." He continued. If by looking a certain 'age' he meant that they were all around the same size and shape, then she'd have to agree.

"This isn't right. No worm gives birth to this many at once. It would literally—" He started.

"Kill them?" Jaster's voice echoed the chamber. After a few quick looks around they spotted him standing on the back of another worm as it made its way from another tunnel. As soon as he was out of the way, another worm slid through with Dandella on its back. Amara felt her jaw drop at the sight and couldn't help but give a highly confused look to the Doctor hoping he knew what was going on. He didn't look outright pissed off, but his features were set with seriousness.

"I'm sorry Amara, I really am. You seem to be such a sweet girl." Dandella purred apologetically. The apology was completely lost through the wicked smile.

"Ok…what?" Amara asked turning to the Doctor again.

"They gathered the worms here, are controlling them somehow, and betrayed us." He simply explained.

"Oh, ok." Amara nodded as it all fell into place in her mind. "Dandella."

"Yes?" She cocked her head slightly in questioning.

"Not cool." Amara shook her head and crossed her arms. It earned a confused look from Dandella while Jaster rolled his eyes.

"Very not cool." The Doctor agreed before taking a step forward. "So, since you're going to kill us anyway, mind explaining what this is all about?"

"Oh no no no. I've seen enough movies to know you don't reveal everything even when you think you've won." Jaster waggled a finger.

"Smart." The Doctor agreed. "Let me say then what I think is going on." Jaster waved him on to continue and took a thoughtful pose as if really interested. "You're using a super low frequency to control these worms to dig for you. Most likely for the turquoise and rubies that's thought to be here. I don't know how you got a single worm to produce so many offspring, but I'm better the result was not pleasant for her." He started to rattle off while slowly walking around the worms to come closer between them and Jaster and Dandella.

"That's all fairly easy to figure out at this point." Jaster shrugged unimpressed.

"You also had to do away with Fred and replaced him with one of your own." He added on.

"How did you know that?" Jaster's eyes narrowed.

"I thought we did a good job of replacing him." Dandella crossed her arms defensively.

"Oh, you did! No one would have really noticed except for the fact that I knew him very well before hand. I saw right away that it wasn't really him. Well, okay, really also because I noticed the shimmer." He explained. Jaster and Dandella looked to each other and for the first time seemed slightly less confident.

"Shimmer?" Amara asked.

"It's like a cloaking device." He simply told her before turning back to Jaster and Dandella with sonic in hand and pointed it at them. They both ducked as if trying to dodge a bullet. Instead, their forms wavered for a moment as the sonic lit up and buzzed before they appeared solid again. As they straightened up, they looked different. Not vastly different. They were the same size and shape and basically human looking like before. However, now their hair has turned a bright fiery red and their skin a blackened charcoal. Their eyes were the color of white lightning and even seemed to spark as angry eyes settled on them. Amara felt her jaw drop again.

"How did you see through our disguise?" Jaster's voice cracked like thunder and wisps of smoke escaped his mouth as he talked and breathed like he was permanently exhaling a cigar. Daintier wisps could just be made out leaving Dandella's mouth and nose.


	10. I'm Going To Try Something

"Seen it enough before to know what is going on. Now, tell me, what are a pair of Volcans doing here?" He asked as he replaced his sonic in his jacket.

"Vulcans?" Amara snorted at that.

"No, Vol-Cans." He corrected.

"Oh, as in a volcano. Are they, like, living bits of volcano?" She questioned.

"Basically, yeah." He smiled.

"Excuse me!" Jaster cleared his throat loudly and gestured between himself and Dandella. "Yeah, hi, we're the ones who are going to kill you now. Shouldn't you be just a tad more worried about your own fate right now and less worried with educating the slow?"

"Ah-ha! Fate; funny thing that is!" The Doctor clapped his hands together.

"What's so funny about fate?" Dandella spat as if insulted.

"Don't take it all that seriously." He shrugged.

"Why not? Fate can certainly have its way of surprising you." She smiled to Jaster at the last part and he smiled warmly back.

"Oh, please." Amara rolled her eyes catching the look between them.

"You don't believe in fate either?" Dandella curiously cocked her head at her.

"It's sometimes nice to believe in to explain why things happen the way they do, especially the bad things, but, no, I think everyone makes their own path whenever and however they want to." She explained and saw the Doctor give her an odd look. It was a mix of surprise, interest, and something else she couldn't quiet place. Almost like she had said something really smart, but he also had something more to say about it.

"It really doesn't matter what you think about it because currently it is your fate to die so we can feed." Jaster's face twisted into a truly evil grin and Dandella's soon followed suit without even looking at him.

"You can't 'feed' on us. Volcan's don't eat living organisms; only gems and sand." The Doctor told them.

"Look around you! Where do you think you are?" Jaster made a grand gesture of the room with both arms. The Doctor looked around frantically trying to quickly take it all in and add it up. Amara was trying to do the same while still glancing to him to see if he got it first, which she knew he would since she was a complete loss. After a few moments, Jaster and Dandella started laughing at their effort.

"Amara." The Doctor got her attention. She had been turned around looking back up to the tunnel they had come through trying to judge if they could run from these rock worms fast enough if needed. Now she whirled around back to him and saw he was kneeling in the sand.

"Yeah?" She cautiously asked. He was letting a handful of the fine sand fall through his fingers before he looked up at her. The sad apologetic look made her stomach turn to ice.

"Amara, I am sorry." He apologized standing up right again.

"Don't you dare say that." She sternly told him. If she were watching a movie, this would be the part that her eyes would go wide and she'd either expect a character's death or some awesome last minute escape. She hoped with every fiber of her being that it was the latter.

"Did you figure it out?" Jaster called down to them.

"Doctor!" Amara sternly got his attention. "I'm only twenty-five. I've never had a solid relationship. I want to be a writer. I want to learn jazz tap ballroom Fred Astaire style dancing. I haven't even beaten Mario Brothers 3 yet. You did not bring me all this way to get eaten!" She glanced back over her shoulder towards the entrance they had come in at.

"We won't make it in time. These worms can move fast when motivated too." He said as if reading her mind. "Amara, what do you have before your main course at dinner?"

"What?" She lost some of her thunder in the confusion of what he asked.

"When you go to a restaurant, what do they ask you for before dinner?" He rephrased.

"Soup or salad?" She was still highly confused

"Look around. We're standing in their version of a salad bowl." He said and waited while she took another glance around them. "The sand is like their lettuce and the gemstones in it are like the carrots and celery." He toed the sand beneath him and several turquoise and ruby and quartz fragments shifted from just under the sand. They had just been deep enough to not see them or feel them when they initially walked over the area.

"And the worms?" Amara asked even though she was already afraid of the answer.

"They are our gourmet chefs, of course. They are going to prepare you for us by eating you, digesting you into dust, and mixing you with the rest." Dandella purred. Although since she changed forms, the womanly purr sounded more like the gentle rumble of a far off landslide. It was really as if they were both actual living pieces of volcanic mountains. Amara found herself wondering if they could spit lava or belch poisonous gases before mentally chiding herself that now was not to time to go Discovery Channel on them.

"Doctor, tell me you have a plan." Amara told him. When he didn't answer right away and kept on with the sorry look, she felt anger bubble up in her that he had brought her into this mess and anger at herself for following him. She gave him a quick shove against his chest. "Tell me you have a plan!"

"Honestly, not at the moment." He looked around again. She didn't really hear him because when she had given him the quick push, something in his jacket hit her hand. She threw open the one side and reached in ignoring his surprised "Hey!" at her actions. As soon as her hand landed on it, she smiled.

"You did say that the worms can move fast if motivated. It's a very last minute kind of crazy plan, but it's something." She pulled out his sonic carefully hoping Dandella and Jaster wouldn't see it and kept it low against his chest. He caught on immediately and took it from her with a smile.

"My favorite kind of plans!" He winked and turned back to the Volcan duo craning down at them trying to see what they were up to. He had his sonic screwdriver pointed at them once again.

"What are you going to do with that? Turn us back into humans?" Jaster laughed a bit, but the nervousness was still evident as he eyed the Doctor and the sonic carefully.

"It does so much more than that; especially good at opening doors." He commented and waved a hand behind him at Amara signaling her to move back. She didn't waste any time and made her way back up the slope towards the tunnel entrance.

"Where do you think you're going? HEY!" Jaster called to her, but she didn't stop until she was just inside the entrance.

"Honey, our food is getting away!" Dandella whined.

"No, they won't get away. There's nothing they can do now." Jaster grinned with smug confidence as he pulled out a small remote controlled device.

"Ah, so that's how! Thank you for showing me." The Doctor aimed the sonic at the device and turned it on. It was the same low rumbling from before and just as before the worms reacted in fearful discomfort. Without the confines of the rock walls, they bucked up and started to thrash around. The two that Jaster and Dandella were on reacted just as violently and threw them from their rides.

"Doctor!" Amara called to him afraid he going to be crushed by the worms. He dodged and moved around the pit still emitting the sound for a few moments longer before retreating to join her.

"We need to get back to the others!" He shouted as he ran past.

"Why?" Amara asked.

"That sand in the pit wasn't sand. It was the missing hikers." He said and kept on going. The severity of the situation was starting to sink in with Amara. Then something else crossed her mind and she skidded to stop grabbing onto the Doctor's sleeve to jerk him to a stop as well. "There is no way I'm running all that way back! We don't even know where they rest of the group went."

"Hm, a shortcut is needed." He tapped the sonic against his chin in through for a moment before heading back towards the pit room.

"Doctor, where are you going?" Amara called after him before hurrying to catch up.

"I'm going to try something I've always wanted to do!" He called back sounding giddy.


	11. Maybe This Wasn't A Good Idea

By the time they got back to the pit, Jaster and Dandella were nowhere to be found. The four worms were still in the center and seemed to be squirming around nervously. The Doctor kept talking to them as if they were small frightened puppies while he fiddled with his sonic. Amara chose to hang back some distance where she felt safe in case they started to thrash around again. She may not have been afraid of them in the sense she thought they would eat them, but the thought of being crushed by their multi-ton weight wasn't a pleasant one. Although he cooed and talked to them, they made no obvious outward reaction to him. Amara couldn't even tell if they were 'speaking' back because all she could hear was the sound of them sliding on the sand and rocks. The sound of the sonic seemed to get deeper and lower until she could barely discern the difference between it and the noises of the worms moving around the pit. Whatever he was doing, he seemed very pleased with it and the worms eventually calmed down.

"That should do it!" He announced finally lowering his sonic.

"What did you do?" Amara asked taking some cautious steps closer.

"Don't worry; they're completely harmless now." He chided noticing her behavior.

"Now they are, he says." She scoffed under her breath.

"I figured it had to be a frequency of some kind; it almost always is. I just had to find the right one. They were acting so badly before because the lower frequencies were interrupting the one controlling theirs. Kind of like putting a fork in a microwave." He explained.

"Ow!" Amara commented.

"Very much ow and I'm so sorry for that." He gave a thumping pat to the one closest to him. "I found the right one that would safely interrupt the signal and disable it."

"But you didn't remove or destroy the receiver." She crossed her arms.

"No, I couldn't. It seems to have been embedded in their brains when they were smaller and it has grown around since. It would kill them." He deflated at that somewhat before he perked up again. "But, they can't be used again! I reset the frequency and hopefully to one they will never encounter again."

"So now you could control them." She wasn't quite sure she liked the idea of anyone controlling another living creature against its will.

"I won't." It was shot out of his mouth so quick and the look her gave her made her feel like he was angry she even suggesting such a thing. An awkward silence between them ensued with Amara felling the need to keep her mouth shut and not press the issue, and the Doctor tried to be more interested with figuring out which end of the worm closest to him would make a suitable 'front' end. She hated awkward silences so she decided to try to break it.

"Shotgun!" She called out.

"Pardon?" His face crinkled in confusion.

"I call shotgun." She simply said and watched the realization wash over him.

"No, no, this is my childhood dream! Find your own!" He waved her off as he started to hoist himself up the side of the worm. She laughed after him relieved that it did the trick for the moment and started to pull herself up. She made the mental note that controlling others was not a line to be casually crossed, even though she did agree with his apparent stance that it was a bad thing. He helped her up the last bit to getting on top of the worm. She was surprised that it hadn't moved or complained to get them off.

"Whoa, this is weird." Amara said positioned in a crouch not sure if she would feel steady enough standing up like the Doctor was doing. "Wait, I just had a thought."

"Yes?" He asked taking the few steps towards what may have been the front of the worm and he sat there like the driver of a horse carriage. She crawled and scooted over next to him.

"If we're going back to the others the way we came, the tunnels aren't big enough. Wouldn't we be, you know, scraped off sitting up here?" She tried to find somewhere that was comfortable enough on her bottom while still feeling like she could hold onto something. The worm wasn't completely smooth, but it almost didn't feel lumpy enough for sitting on top of and not sliding off.

"I already have a fair idea of where they are all headed. We'll take Jaster and Dandella's tunnel since it was made big enough for the purpose of riding on top of the worms." He gestured ahead to the tunnel the volcanic duo had come out of earlier and might have gone back down for all they knew. As if somehow knowing what they wanted, the worm started to move up the incline of the bowl and into the tunnel. "They can understand us. Probably a side effect of the device in their heads."

"So, they understand English." Amara wasn't sure if she should make it a question.

"No. The main language of this planet and the Core Five is actually Mandarin." He started. The worm continued on unphased by their conversation as it headed into the tunnels, which were more than large enough for them to stand on top of the worms and maybe even play table tennis if they wanted to.

"Mandarin? But we haven't been speaking Mandarin and no one else has either; just English."

"Well, you've been speaking and hearing English, but they have been speaking and hearing Mandarin. It's the TARDIS; it has been translating for us."

"Oh, okay. How?"

"It's a gift of the TARDIS."

"But how? Is it like a transmission or psychic energy or something?"

"Yes."

"…You have no idea do you?"

"Of course I do."

"Is it too technical or something? Afraid my tiny 21st century brain won't comprehend it?"

"That has nothing to do with it. Partly, yes."

"I knew it."

"I'm not saying you're not smart. I'm sure you would basically understand it."

"And I'm sure I will too. I just meant that I knew you didn't know."

"What?"

"That's okay if you don't. No one can know everything, right?"

"It's not that I don't know how it works it's just that—Oh!" He grumbled and gave up crossing arms looking away, as if there really was anywhere to look away too aside from the smooth walls of the tunnel. Amara couldn't stop herself from laughing at his childish behavior in response to her ribbing him.

"Hey, I'm just giving you a hard time." She gave his shoulder a friendly shove. He looked back to her, still with arms crossed, and had narrowed eyes at her as if not completely sure. She made mental note that she needed to be more obvious when she was joking around. "I'm sorry, alright."

"Fine." He finally conceded.

"So, do you even know where this is going? What are we going to do? I'm not sure I get what's going on." She changed the subject looking ahead further down the tunnel. It was completely smooth and barren as far as she could see into the gloomy low light. The flameless torches lit the way and were spaced far apart with just enough light to see the next one coming up. As far as she could tell, they were going along a straight and level path with no curves, inclines, or slopes. She tried to imagine where they might be compared to what she remembered of the bigger landmarks above ground; the lake, the canyon rim, and where they came down underground. She was hopelessly lost and hoped he knew better.

"With any luck, it will be headed to the underside of the lake or at least right up alongside the far side from where we came down." He also looked ahead and if he could actually judge where they were.

"That's a very long ways away." She commented. She remembered Fred saying the entrance they had taken down here was a couple miles from the lake shore and they had been walking and now riding for a while, but the lake itself was vast. If they were going to the far shore, especially on the slow moving worm, then it would take hours.

"Yes, but we won't be taking this worm the whole way, that'd take way too long." He said and noticed she was looking to him questioningly. "Can't you smell it yet?"

"No." She shook her head and he gestured to her to go ahead and take a whiff. She inhaled deeply and there it was. It was light to her, but unmistakable. It smelled like a machine shop; oils and fresh metal. Looking ahead again, she still couldn't see anything and listening carefully, she couldn't hear anything beyond the worm sliding along.

"I'm not 100% sure what is going on here either, but I have some ideas and we'll find out fairly soon. Amara, can I count on you?" It was a serious question.

"What do you mean?" Amara wasn't sure she liked the question.

"Can I count on you to do exactly as I say? If I say run, you run. If I say don't touch that, for the love of Jammy Dodgers, don't touch that." He was boring holes into her eyes looking for an answer before she would say it. It made her uncomfortable, but she tried not to physically pull back from him. Also partly afraid she'd lose balance and end up under the worm.

"I don't know what a Jammy Dodger is, but yes, you can count on me." She nodded.

"Good! Because things may get a bit messy; they almost always do." The Doctor's seriousness had wiped away for more of the bouncy friendly attitude she had seen him with before. There was still a toned down edge of seriousness to it though as he seemed to be thinking things over.

"I would have thought that question was a little too late considering everything we've been through so far today." Amara shrugged.

"Still good to know." He responded still in his thoughts.

"How messy?" She asked after a few minutes of silence between them.

"Very." A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but never reached full height. "Are you afraid of the dark?"

"Not really." As she answered him, she saw that there were no more lights ahead. It was going to be pitch black very soon.

"Can you swim?" He continued.

"Yeah." Her hands gripped the bumps of the worm a little harder at the thought of what he might be saying.

"Good, good." He was still looking ahead as if watching something. The worms grinding noises suddenly turned into a sloshing sound as it obviously encountered liquid. Darkness enveloped them now and they couldn't see if it was water or something else that the worm was now gliding though. Vibrations of the worm still grinding along the tunnels bottom could still be felt through its body, but the sounds of the liquid moving around the worm was getting louder. Either the water was rising or was moving.

"Doctor?" Amara questioned highly unsure of the situation.

"We may get a little wet, but we should be fine." He reassured from next to her in the dark. She let out a small semi-restrained yelp when the water touched her feet and she retracted them quickly out of surprise. She almost let out another yelp when his hand found her shoulder and gave it a quick reassuring pat before disappearing again. She looked to her side, but couldn't see him. She found herself wondering if he might be silently laughing at her or if he was genuinely concerned. The water didn't come any higher and he suddenly started talking. He talked about all the things he had personally seen wandering around the universe. She noticed he took care to talk only about the good and beautiful things, but didn't want to point it out. She let him talk since it kept her mind off the claustrophobic effect the darkness and water was creating. He was obviously trying to comfort her and maybe even himself to an extent.

It seemed to take over an hour before they finally saw a pin point of light ahead. It grew bigger as they got closer. It was one of the flameless torches and more could be seen beyond it clustered much closer together than before. They could now also see that the water was just under their feet and the worm was mostly submerged, but it kept grinding on. The smells of oil and metal was getting stronger and now the air had a thicker more humid touch to it. Before she knew it, her shirt was sticking to her with a mixture of air moisture and her own sweat, even though it wasn't actually that hot. Just that the air was thick and closed in feeling; like walking through the fog in San Francisco.

"What do we have here?" The Doctor wondered out loud as he pushed his long legs under him to stand up. Amara pulled her legs up further to stand when needed, but remained kneeling, still not feeling steady on the moving worm.

"What is it?" She asked. Just as the air felt heavier, a mist or fog gradually built the further they went. The torches were closer together, but even they were having trouble completely piercing the thick air completely.

"I'm not quite sure." He admitted as dark shapes started to materialize through in front of them. The worm began to slow and eventually stopped in front of what appeared to be a metal dock. They got off and the worm began to move backwards, or maybe forwards for it, the way it had come. The Doctor stepped forward to look at the shapes more closely. They were still mostly obscured, but looking up and seeing more and more pieces jutting in and out of the fog, Amara got the feeling of an unfinished steel building. Like they were looking at the skeleton of it.

"Doctor?" She questioned.

"Come on." He said and started towards it. She followed closely not wanting to lose him in the thickening fog. Looking down, there were moments when she couldn't even see the water right under the pier. There was no movement to the water to make any noise and the fog absorbed whatever small noises might have been made around them. It didn't take long for them to find their path blocked by a sheet of metal with a solid door in it. It was as wide as the pier and only had a simple knob on it. He looked back to her for a moment and seemed excited about it.

"Shouldn't we knock first?" Amara found herself smiling.

"Good manners are universally important, so yes, I think we should." He gave the door a quick melody of a knock that Amara almost answered with 'two bits' out of force of habit. At first, nothing at all happened. They listened hard and couldn't hear anything. They both jumped back when they realized the door had begun to slowly swing open. It took several moments before it was fully opened to reveal no one in plain view who had opened it. The room inside was dark, but thankfully fog free.

"After you." Amara offered.

"Scaredy-cat." He chided, but quickly took the lead with Amara close on his heels not wanting to be left behind.

Just as the door had opened slowly, it closed slowly once both were clear of it. By reaction, he held up his sonic and turned it on to let a green glow penetrate their immediate area as he peered around. Out of her own reaction, she looked to the wall that flanked either side of the door and soon found a switch. Flicking it up, the room lit up from a bank of lights high above them. This room wasn't a skeleton shell of a building. It was more like a warehouse and bank after bank of lights lit up to reveal it went on at some distance. Immediately in front of them was what appeared to be a decent sized office space with walls that only went up about eight feet, but it was obvious there was way more beyond it. Not bothering to look around the room much, they crossed to a normal sized door and were greeted with exactly what they thought lay beyond; a warehouse setting.

"This is huge. What is all this?" Amara looked all around. There were stacks upon stacks of containers of various sizes; the size of moving boxed all the way up to the size of shipping containers and all stacked to various heights making it hard to see all the way to the edges. All of the boxes had a red logo stamped onto them. No words, just the logo. To Amara, it kind of looked like a toaster with a handle over the top of it and what appeared to be two holes like eyes in the middle.

"I know what this is…" He said also looking around.

"What is it?" She asked him.

"Saying its trouble would be an understatement." He looked to her with a look between scared and completely unnerved.


	12. Expected Worse

**A/N: Sorry for the bit of a delay. I'm trying not to fall back into the habit. I have been looking for a job and as of this past Friday (5/18), I graduated and am now a fully certified Dental Assistant! My classes actually ended March 27th, but the ceremony wasn't until this past Friday. I've been looking for work since. Although, I did take nearly 2.5 weeks of that mostly off from looking because my step-mother passed away after her 18 month battle with colon cancer. She passed quickly once she turned that corner. I went back and forth a lot to help my father. I'm really hoping to find a job where I can work a 4-10 work week (meaning 4, 10 hour days instead of 5, 8 hours days) so that I can have the time to visit him often. **

**Anywho, enough blabbering. On with the Who!**

* * *

Before Amara could really stop him, he started to pry open a crate that was waist level to him with the red logo on it. It only took him a moment to find and flip open the latches on one side of the large rectangular box. After pushing up the lid, he stared just stared at its contents. Amara stepped forward to look into the box and saw a tangled pile of wires and what were clearly heads and limbs of savagely dismantled robots.

"Cybermen." He said to the box as his eyes kept darting over every piece. It was as if he was expecting one of the many broken pieces to start moving.

"Cybermen?" Amara questioned.

"Cyborgs built with live humans stripped of their emotions. They are bent on converting every humanoid in their path." He continued to tell her about his previous encounters with them as he looked up to the rows upon rows of similar crates. "There's more than enough here for an army."

"But these are broken." She said and started to reach in for a piece. He cut her off by grabbing her forearm giving her a look that clearly said he didn't want her anywhere near them, so she drew her hand back. Looking into the crate again, she tried to imagine one assembled. It would be large and heavy for sure. Most likely an impressive force especially with line and after line of them. At the same time, seeing all the torn apart bits in front of her, she didn't feel all that threatened by it. "Okay, this is making even less sense. Even if Jaster and Dandella, and who knows who else, wanted to make an army then why have all these broken pieces? Wouldn't they need a way to fix them and then make them operational? How would this even help them feed off of people on this planet if the Cybermen would also want to convert people into more Cybermen?"

"I'm not sure." He opened two more of the crates within reach and they were also filled with the same broken and dismantled pieces of Cybermen.

"Well, let's look around more and find out." Amara offered.

The two carefully picked their way through the rows and paths between them. Opening a crate on occasion, it was mostly more pieces of Cybermen and a few seemed to be basic supplies; food staples, medical kits, what appeared to be camping gear and water. Coming to the end of the warehouse, there was one large bay door and two smaller doors flanking it. All of which were closed.

"Ennie, minnie, miney, moe." The Doctor said pointed between the two smaller doors.

"That one." Amara pointed to the door on the left.

"Should we knock again?" He asked as they approached the door and smiled like it was now an inside joke. Instead of waiting for an answer, he used his sonic screwdriver to easily unlock the door. There was light on the other side, but only a few low humming fluorescent lights casting a light green over the corridor beyond. It was as if nightlights or backup generator lights were on. This time, Amara couldn't find an obvious light switch to turn on more lights. They would just have to deal with the low light. Ahead of them was a simple corridor. If they hadn't taken a water slide underground a several hours earlier or rode a giant rock-earth worm to this fog shrouded building then Amara would have thought they walked into an ordinary officer building. Especially once they began to pace door after door with frosted glass windows. No names, numbers, or even symbols were scrawled on them.

"What are all these rooms?" She asked.

"They look like office rooms." He replied and she almost rolled her eyes at the obvious statement. "They're locked." He tried a few handles as they passed them. "I think we're coming to the end here soon anyway."

Sure enough, they came to the end of the corridor which had curved away to the right from where they entered. Opening that door, they found they were back in the brightly lit warehouse.

"Okay then. So, where does the big door go if that hallway with all the rooms just went around it?" She questioned as they both looked up the large bay door.

"Only one way to find out." He said and soon had it opened. It squealed and groaned against being opened. Amara cringed at the noise and the thought that someone else might hear it and come running. Then again, no one had bothered them yet and they hadn't run across any sign that someone had been in this place recently. The large door shuttered to a painfully noisy stop after six feet, which was more than enough for them to get in. The room beyond was dark, but like the warehouse had the feeling of being cavernous. The machine shop smell came rolling out of the room beyond like a tidal wave almost making her stomach turn.

"Here we are." The Doctor announced when he found a panel near the inside of the door. Turning it on, the same high up banks of lights from the warehouse flickered on to brightly illuminate the room. It wasn't nearly as big as the main warehouse, but it was still a large space between the bay door and the curved back wall. What was in between them and the back wall made it obvious as to why the door was so big. Massive pieces of machinery stood in assembly line form that made a meandering path of conveyor belts all over the room running from one station to another. Each station, with its own hunk of horror house slice-and-dice machinery, marking a stop along the way until it just seemed to end abruptly as if running out of room even this large space for the final bits of the grisly process.

"Oh!" The Doctor remarked. "Oh! This is brilliant!" He took it all in. "it makes sense now! Well, a part of it makes sense now."

"Yeah?" Amara wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"They're not going to make an army, they're dismantling one! It's a recycling station!" He ran over to a bank of computer consoles, found the way to turn them on, and started looking through the programming. "This is one of the recycling ships that usually orbit space stations. It would be like ferrying out your trash to be properly sorted on a trash island, or something, instead of doing it in a landfill near town. Why didn't I notice before?"

"Because it's only part of a ship buried under a man-made lake in a deep canyon that we had to ride a giant worm to get to." She told him.

"Well, there's that." He admitted as he continued to look through programs and logs. "This didn't crash here. It was dismantled and brought here, but never finished. Oh, I see. Top secret project to dismantle the Cybermen out of sight. It was commissioned by one of the other Core Five back when this planet wasn't as popular and therefore not a lot of tourist or residents. There was an invasion of Cybermen and they figured out how to defeat them. This is all just to get rid of them. They got the initial break down done, but didn't continue and this place was abandoned twenty years ago. About the same time the park and the planet as a whole went through a change to bring in more people and keep it as part of the Core Five. Apparently the main governing body of the Core Five changed some of the descriptions to remains part of the Core Five, be protected by its armies, and receive its benefits. The main change being the planet had to have a certain population level or at least prove a certain population growth."

"The Cybermen were brought here to be disposed of because this was a quiet place, but then it got crowded so they stopped." Amara simplified it. "That would explain why this place is unfinished. You saw how it looked outside."

"Yeah." He agreed.

"Okay, I can see this being a secret robot recycling plant, but what does that have to do with Jaster and Dandella?" She asked.

"Nothing." He shrugged.

"Do you think they even know about this place?" She asked.

"Most likely, but I wouldn't worry. There's nothing here that can help them rebuild the Cybermen. There's just enough generator power to operate the lights, really." He waved it off shutting down the computers.

"We should move on then. Weren't we supposed to be catching up with the others to warn them?" She felt almost stupid that she had forgotten about them why they explored these recycling station ruins.

"Don't worry. I have a plan." He reassured as they made their way back towards the front of the warehouse.

"A plan?" She prodded him on.

"First thing's first; we need to actually get back up on the rim of the canyon." He said as they briskly walked.

"The rim? As in the five miles above ground level not counting how deep we are already rim?" She couldn't believe what he was saying.

"The very same." They exited out on the fog shrouded pier.

"Wait, I thought we were going to the other side of the lake." Amara crossed her arms not liking the change of plan after coming all this way.

"We are, but we need to be up on the rim." He nodded and looked over the dock into the water. "Ever see those optical illusions where you don't know if the object is near or far?"

"Yeah?" She asked. He suddenly took a small hop into the water right next to the ship. Instead of falling into the water, he stood high and dry in barely an inch of water.

"Either those footprints were right under the water or they were massive footprints on the bottom." He filled her in. Coming closer, she could see what he was talking about. In the dirt immediately next to the ship was a set of well-traveled footprints following the exterior of the ship. He started to follow them and she hopped down after him. "Careful though, it does drop off just a few inches that way." He pointed and although she couldn't actually see the edge of the dirt path they were on drop off, the water did appear darker.

"I have a question: if this ship is unfinished and out of use for a while, what's causing all this fog underground?" Amara asked continuing to follow him making sure to hug the side of the ship

"I have a few theories, well one big one and a couple other likely ones, but we'll see soon enough once we're on the other side." He talked over his shoulder making sure ot look back every now and then to watch his footing.


	13. Last Fred

"Did you find any sign of them?" Fred asked Meng after coming back to him. About an hour earlier, Fred noticed that his group had shrunk and made the others look for them.

"Not a thing." Meng shook his round head that seemed to have just been plopped onto his equally round body without any trace of a neck.

"Dang it! Where could they have all gone?" He muttered to himself frustrated. The other men had started to complain and argue about wanting to get out of the tunnels before they went missing as well. "Now, hold on, everyone. Shut up! Please, just listen for a moment. No one else is going to go missing. I've been all up and down this cave system before and there is no reason for people to go missing other than they wandered off. Here's what we are going to do: the rest of us are going to head straight from here to the end point and I'm going to come back and look for them. There's a shuttle waiting at the end point to take you all back to the parking lot or Bexar City, whichever you want to go to. Come on now, let's get moving."

"Can't you just call for help?" Meng asked.

"I will once we reach the end point where the shuttles and a station are. It's only a twenty minute hike from here." Fred sternly said attempting to leave little room to argue. Meng didn't seem pleased, but silently obeyed. The rest of the men kept their muttering to a minimum, but were still disgruntled as they filed along.

True to his word, Fred led them on a straight path from the tunnels to an outlet at the far end of the lake. Immediately in view a short walk from the shore stood a ranger station and two air shuttles. The men gladly went towards them while Fred trailed behind a bit troubled over the situation. Meng spared him a look back, but joined the men in leaving. Once they were gone, Fred explained to the two rangers at the tiny station four people form his group had gone missing in the tunnels under the lake. They called it in the main station and joined Fred back down into the tunnels. Armed with maps of the known tunnels, flash lights, radios, and basic medical kits Fred led them back to where he last remembered seeing them for sure and then spread out. Another search team was set to enter from the waterslide side to look and meet in the middle.

"Hey, you." Dandella called to Fred as he looked through an off chute of the main path with all the arrows painted in it.

"Dandella!" He rushed over to her. "Are you okay? Where is everyone else?"

"Jaster is taking care of the final plans. Your friend and that girl are out by the old factory, but they should be heading this way soon enough." She calmly explained.

"The final plans, huh." Fred commented.

"Yes." Dandella heaved an annoyed sigh. "That Doctor had pushed our hand. He knows way too much. I doubt he knows what's coming next though and we need to keep it that way. I see you called down the park authorities. Did you forget your part so quickly?"

"I…uh…" Fred seemed at a loss and genuinely confused.

"It's okay, sweetie. You know you weren't meant to come along with us in the end, right?" She purred.

"Yes, of course." He was distant still as if his mind was trying to piece together a mostly forgotten dream.

"Don't worry. You do what you feel is right. Just don't get in our way." The last part was a dark threat. Still in a daze, Fred nodded and wandered off to resume his search. Dandella watched him go before turning to her own path. Before long, she found her husband, still in his Volcan form, bent over a small piece of machinery. "Jaster dear, I think Fred will soon be a liability. That man already knows he is not the original Fred and now Fred is starting to think. That happened with the last Fred too." She sat on a rock near him and gave a small shiver as she changed from her human form back into her Volcan form. "Jaster, did you hear me?"

"We won't need to worry about him. Let the rangers look for them. Even if they find the worm pit, the factory, and this device they will never be able to piece it together in time." He stopped toying with the device and stood in front of Dandella to give her arms a solid rub. "This will work, I promise."

"I really hope so." She sighed.

"It will." He insisted and pulled her up into a tight embrace. The places where they touched blackened flesh together took on a faint red glow as if the veins and vessels under their skin were reacting to each other. Like the soft glow of dying embers. "All we need to do is activate the factory and get to the rim."

"You'll turn on the device and then this planet will be ours." She nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder.

"We'll be rich in the minerals and precious stones this place has to offer." He took in a deep scent of her hair.

"The worms will feed on everyone when we tell them too, and then we can start planning our new family." She pulled away to look up at him with wide-eyed hope.

"Then we can rebuild our lives." He smiled at her before they shared a passionate kiss. Although he didn't want to, they had work to be done so he reluctantly parted from his wife. "You know what to do?"

"I'll be waiting, my love." Dandella picked up the device and transformed back into her human form.

"I'll be right there." Jaster also changed forms and made his way back towards the factory.

Knowing the paths well, it didn't Jaster long to arrive at the abandoned underground factory. Upon entering, he knew something was wrong right away. All the lights were on and several of the containers had been opened. A quick look through the opened ones revealed nothing seemed to be missing. Looking to the back of the warehouse, he could see the bay door was partially opened. Moving and listening carefully, no one seemed to be there still. Looking into the room, everything was left as it was. It appeared that whoever had been here was only looking around.

"That man and girl. It has to be." Jaster hissed to himself.

Turning on the bank of computers, he saw everything was still there as it should be, but someone had been looking through some of the files and programs. As far as he could tell, he would still be able to go ahead with his plan. He wasted no more time and set into motion a sequence of programs. All at once, the entire factory hummed to life. The assembly line began to move as the conveyor belts squealed to life and old parts protested the movement. He entered another quick set of commands before turning from the computers and making his way out of the warehouse. He hopped down into the water immediately next to the door and quickly made his way around the side of the factory. The fog bank that hung around the cavern was now slowly moving and dissipating as the vibrations in the air disturbed it. Going a little over a quarter of the way around, he found the secondary path in the water that would lead him out of it and to dry land via yet another tunnel. Going a short distance down that one as the factory continued to drone behind him, he came upon one of the worms.

"Out of my way." He sternly demanded. When it made no move to do anything, he produced a small device and pressed a button on it. "I said move!" Nothing happened.

"That won't work for you anymore." A voice called out to him.

"You." Jaster hissed turning to face the Doctor and Amara.

"I've disabled the devices controlling the worms. You won't be able to harm them anymore." The Doctor narrowed eyes at him.

"You don't understand." Jaster was clearly agitated. "This worm needs to move. I need to get to my ship and—"

"I've disabled that as well." The Doctor interrupted.

"You…You've what?" Jaster's human face slackened and paled in horror.

"No quick, last minute escape for you!" He tossed his sonic end over end and caught it replacing it in his jacket. "Were you even going to tell her? I don't think she knew about your other plans. I saw the ship; it's built and stocked for only one."

"You disabled my ship? It won't work?" Jaster continued to question.

"No." The Doctor shook his head.

"You're going to get me—" He started, but then swiftly corrected looking between the Doctor and Amara. "-us killed! I've already out the plan in motion! There's no going back!"


	14. One More Step

"What?" Amara asked getting a sinking feeling. Jaster was too frantic for it to be a ploy of some kind.

"I just set off the factory in a chain reaction." He said through gritted teeth. "It might only take another few minutes for it to blow a hole in the bottom of the lake."

"And that ship was your only way out?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes." Jaster hissed.

"Why would you do that?" He asked his voice pitching almost to a squeal.

"Do you really want me to take the time to explain everything right now?" Jaster gave an exasperated roll of his eyes.

"Right!" The Doctor jumped into action using his sonic screwdriver to make the giant worm move. As soon as it had moved enough Jaster moved past it and ran to the small ship sitting just around a bend in the dead end tunnel. He opened a hatch to climb in and sat in the only chair facing a panel of controls. After frantically pressing a few buttons, nothing happened.

"What did you do? Turn it back on!" Jaster pleaded as he still tried every button and control within reach in desperate attempt to make something work.

"Tell me what's going on." The Doctor peered into the hatch behind him.

"Seriously!" Jaster snapped over his shoulder. The tunnel jolted with what felt like a small explosion sending a shower of dirt and debris down on them.

"Tell him!" Amara shouted at Jaster over the Doctor's head.

"I'm trying to get away from Dandella!" Jaster's voice was a crackled boom as his form shifted from human to Volcan with the statement.

"You're trying to leave your wife? By blowing up a factory underground-I'm assuming to make it look like you died-while you escape?" The Doctor questioned.

"That's cold." Amara shook her head.

"You don't understand. It's—" Jaster started, but another violent tremor cut him off. "Fix the ship for we all die!"

"I fix the ship, you get us out of here, and then you have some explaining to do." The Doctor sternly gave the ultimatum. Jaster seemed to be seriously considering an alternative, but then nodded. He reached past Jaster and pulled down a small panel to reconnect only two wires that had been pulled loose. Instantly the small ship blinked to life and the engines started to hum as they warmed up. Jaster wasted no time in setting the controls while the Doctor and Amara squeezed themselves in behind him. There was just enough room to be shoulder to shoulder bent down behind the pilot's chair.

"We just have to wait for the factory to finish detonating now." Jaster told them. He seemed definitely calmer now that they were in the relative safety of the small craft and that it was working properly.

"Why not just go now?" Amara questioned.

"Because until that factory punches a hole in the bottom of the lake this ship isn't going anywhere." Jaster checked several of the controls a few times out of nervousness.

"So we're swimming out. Can this ship even do that?" The Doctor asked.

"When this factory was built, it was supposed to be fully insulated against being submerged should something happen to the lake bed above it. They were going to stock it with more of these kinds of ships, but only got a few of them down here before the factory was abandoned. This was the only one that needed minor repairs to be operational after sitting for so long." Jaster explained. A few more of the small explosions rattled the tunnel before it was calm again.

"Let's just hope we don't get buried first." The Doctor grimaced looking up through the windows of the cockpit at the dirt and debris showering down on them. Smaller rocks could be heard bouncing off the exterior of the ship.

"Yeah." Amara agreed wondering if this was anywhere near a good idea at all.

If they hadn't been huddled in so closely, they might have been thrown from their feet or Jaster would have been knocked completely out of his seat once the factory finally reached its critical breaking point a few moments later. Jaster still hadn't explained what he did exactly to make it explode. They were just thankful for the time being that the tunnel didn't collapse on them. The relief was only momentary when they remembered that next the lake was going to come crashing down on them. Sure enough, the rumble of the explosion gave way water pouring into the main cavity where twisted remains of the factory still stood and began to quickly fill the connecting tunnels. It wasn't until water engulfed the whole tunnel that the ship began to have any buoyancy. Jaster manned the controls and directed the craft on a turbulent ride through swirling waters to the main cavern with the factory. It was already mostly filled with the lakes waters. As soon as the cavern was completely fully, Jaster steered up through the hole the blast made and towards the surface. There was only a quick jolt of the engines as they broke through the water to the air above, but other than that it smoothly made the transition. The surface of the lake was turbulent, but not quite reaching a full swirl like water twirling down a drain as it continued to empty into the caverns below.

"Over there." The Doctor directed pointing to a spot on the rim. As they got closer, Amara could see it was where he had left his TARDIS. The blue box seemed sorely out of place in the dusty reddish landscape. Jaster set the craft down and to everyone's surprise, Meng and Jude in their Volcan forms appeared from the path the Doctor and Amara had taken hours before when they first arrived. At the moment, Dandella was nowhere to be seen. After heaving a sigh, Jaster shut down the engines and waited for Amara and the Doctor to squeeze out before he got out as well.

"Meng. Jude." He greeted unenthusiastically.

"Jaster." Meng returned the tone and Jude only gave a slight nod.

"Dandella?" Jaster asked after a moment.

"On her way I would assume." Meng shrugged. "Did she even know?"

"How did you know?" Jaster questioned.

"I'll admit, the factory was a surprise, but the marital strife wasn't hard to miss. I know this was not the ideal situation you had in mind after they exiled you and Dandella from Yamat." Meng was almost apologetic looking as he talked. He obviously knew both Jaster and Dandella well before this.

"No. Far from it." Jaster admitted.

"Jaster?" Dandella carefully asked as she came from the path also in her Volcan form.

"I think it's time for that explanation." The Doctor offered seeing that clearly all the players were in place.

"This doesn't do anything, does it?" Dandella's lips thinned as she held up a small device.

"Not what I told you it does, no." Jaster admitted with a sigh running a hand over his face. Dandella slowly lowered the device and her eyes flicked from between him and the small craft behind the small group.

"I see it only seats one." She struggled to keep the angry look, but it was quickly crumbling.

"Mistress." Jude made an attempt to console her, but a quick glance from her silenced him from saying anymore and glued him to his spot. Meng simply looked on seeming to know it wasn't his place to get involved.

"Going back to Yamat, I presume?" She returned her hurt filled gaze to Jaster.

"Yes." He simply said.

"Why don't either one of you just start at the beginning." The Doctor once again tried to get the conversation on a path that would involve an explanation. Jaster looked between everyone for a moment before seeming to give up and deciding to tell the story.

"Dandella and I have known each other nearly our entire lives. Just like our parents and their parents, we were groomed for positions in high court; you would call us a Lord and Lady by your terms. We were never meant to be joined to each other as partners because it wouldn't have benefitted either of our houses. We were allowed to copulate, however." Jaster started.

"You could be together, but not be together?" Amara asked.

"That is the way it is where we come from." Jaster said with a twinge of annoyance as if he's had to explain it before to people who don't understand. Amara knew that lots of weird things happened within royal and noble families. This didn't sound any different.

"But you are joined." The Doctor added on.

"Yes." Dandella answered. "After years of accepted affairs we decided to take part in a joining ceremony even though it was frowned on. At worst, we thought we might lose some privileges or be whispered about. Instead, they exiled us from the courts and both of our families turned their backs on us."

"That's harsh." Amara cringed.

"We were happy to have each other." Dandella directed at Jaster with some venom.

"We were." He echoed with a nod before continuing. "Meng is my personal servant and Jude is Dandella's. They were so loyal they decided to follow us even with no guarantee of the same life they left behind."

"We had no choice, really." Jude sheepishly said and then noticed the looks he was getting from the Doctor and Amara at the statement. "Not that they threatened us! It's just that once a servant is bound to a house or person, they stay with them for life."

"We went to several other worlds where the Volcan court had some influences to try to obtain positions as diplomats. Word of our union and its disastrous effect spread fast however and we were not welcomed. We ended up here on Alexandria and it was a stroke of luck that Meng had previously made connections and kept in touch with a professor in Bexar City. He told Meng that he was looking for partners in research for geology and he helped to get us the positions. Being Volcan and intimately in touch with such aspects because of our biology was an easy enough fit." Jaster continued the story.

"Why wasn't that enough? You had each other, a new career—admittedly not as glamorous-, a new life, and a new home." The Doctor asked.

"I was born and bred for so much more than a simple professor of geology." Jaster scoffed.

"As am I!" Dandella spat. "Do you forget that I come from the same life as you?"

"No, you love to remind me of it every day I wake up next to you." Jaster narrowed eyes at her.

"The only difference between us is that I was willing to start over!" She insisted.

"Oh really? Then why did you always crave more and more? Why did you come up with this asinine plan to try to rule this planet? You do know it was never going to work, don't you?" Jaster took a few threatening steps towards her.

"Tell us about the plan and why it wouldn't have worked?" The Doctor took a step forward to mostly come between them.

"It was all her idea!" Jaster huffed a laugh.

"You helped me." Dandella accused.

"Are you that stupid?" Jaster asked.

"We get it. You helped her so she wouldn't know your own plan." Meng sighed heavily. Jaster and Dandella looked at him with some surprise for a few moments clearly not expecting 'the help' to speak up. Especially not against them or with such attitude. Jude wisely kept his mouth shut for the time being.

"Yes, I helped her with her insane plan while I worked out my own to escape. On our planet, once joined with someone, it is only permanent for the first ten years. After that, the two may get what you would call a divorce and be free to join with others if it would be of greater benefit. Dandella and I have been together for ten years as of this year. I contacted my father on Yamat and he said I was welcomed back. Alone." Jaster gestured to the ship.

"You were just going to leave me here?" Dandella gasped.

"That was the plan. I found the factory, while mostly useless, had enough fuel and faulty parts to cause an explosion large enough to damage the caves and cause the lake to drain into the tunnels. You would think I'm dead therefore breaking the union and I would escape back to Yamat to start my life over." Jaster finally explained.

"What if I had been in the tunnels? You would have killed me!" Dandella was disgusted.

"No!" Jaster was quick to cut her off. "Fred wouldn't have allowed it. I made sure he would get you out should that happen. I may not want to be with you anymore, but that doesn't mean I want you dead."

"Ah yes, Fred. You're other faithful servant." The Doctor said.

"The Fred that's not yours?" Amara asked.

"Yes, that one. What did you do with the real Fred? He was a friend of mine." The Doctor asked suspiciously.

"He died while on a hike. A portion of a cliff side path had crumbled under him. I swear on my own life that we had nothing to do with his death. It was merely an opportunity for us." Meng explained.

"We made a replica of him using his own tissues and some of the left over Cybermen parts." Jude added.

"You what?" The Doctor turned darkly serious at the news.

"We needed a cover for my own plan and having our own Fred helped." Dandella took her turn to tell her story. "I made sure Fred would keep running the tours so that the park wouldn't be aware of our own activities in the tunnels."

"What were you thinking?" The Doctor demanded.

"We were going to start a family. Well, I guess it was just me that wanted to start one." Dandella lowered her head for a moment to collect herself. "There are several things that need to happen for a Volcan female to become fertile and ready to have children. Aside from being joined to a partner, the biggest thing needed is energy and lots of it. My plan started really only as a means to have children. This planet does not have the right soil or raw material needed. Originally, I only needed a few people."

"You killed people to have children." The Doctor corrected.

"In a simplified way, yes." Dandella agreed.

"But what about the worms?" Amara asked.

"It's like we told you before, they would properly prepare others for us. Being exiled means that I cannot send for what I needed and I had to use what I had available. Believe me, we tried other means, but it turned out that ground human was the best option." Dandella explained.

"There could have been other ways. You didn't have to kill anyone." The Doctor practically barked causing Dandella to jump.

"You don't understand…" Dandella started, but it died off. She obviously knew what she did wasn't right.

"We were mad." Jaster started again. "We were both mad at Yamat, the court, and our families for abandoning us. We were mad at the life we have come to live. I was mad at Dandella, even though it wasn't her fault. I just wanted to get back to the life I knew."

"I just wanted a family with you." Dandella breathed and a cloudy colored tear escaped down her cheek.

"It doesn't change the fact that innocent people died. How many?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know." Dandella sank down to take a seat against a boulder. The weight of the situation seemed to be sinking in.

"Now look here, I did not actually take part in her plan and I will not be held responsible for anyone's death." Jaster announced, but was quickly silenced by a glare from the Doctor.

"You helped to make that worm birth more than it could and you planted those control devices directly into their brains. You're hands are just as bloody." The Doctor told him. Jaster's jaw clenched and he had nothing to say.

"I can see where this is going and I already took the liberty of alerting the local authorities as well as Yamat about the situation." Meng addressed them both.

"What!" Jaster nearly physically staggered back at what his loyal servant told him.

"We didn't want any of this." Jude nervously cleared his throat.

"You can't do that! You are my servant! As your master I order you to—" Jaster started.

"You are not my master anymore." Meng raised his voice in what was probably the first time ever towards his master and it had the desired effect of stunning Jaster into exasperated silence for the moment. "According to our laws, the moment you joined in union with Dandella and were exiled myself and Jude were no longer bound to you or your houses. We have been free this whole time, but remained by your sides. When we started our new lives here, it showed us all we could have of our own power." Meng calmly explained.

"Having grown up with the both of you, we cared enough to leave Yamat and stay with you. Meng is right though, I am happier than I have ever been and I like it here. You also didn't tell us about your plans and when we found out… I'm sorry. I can no longer serve you." Jude gave the sad sounding apology. The drone of engines could now he heard getting closer. Most likely the park authorities that Meng called.

"Amara." Dandella looked to her and suddenly jumped up from her seat to run over and grabbed at one of her arms. "Amara! You know I'm a good person, right?"

"Dandella, I really don't know you." Amara peeled her hands off of her arm and took a few steps back away from her. Dandella never took her eyes off of her and was starting to seem panicked.

"If Yamat knows then I won't be able to go back." Jaster said to Meng.

"They will imprison you for your crimes, yes." Meng sighed.

"No. They won't." Jaster turned and fled back to the ship.

"Stop!" The Doctor called after him and started to follow, but a startled call from Amara made him stop. Turning back around, he saw her trying to push Dandella away from her as they neared the edge of the cliff top. Before he could call out to them or do anything else, Dandella had pushed Amara enough for her foot to loose traction and they both tumbled over the edge. Jaster trying to quickly escape in his small ship sent up a whirlwind of dust and dirt forcing the Doctor, Jude, and Meng to cover their faces to not choke or be blinded. Once everything settled enough, they ran to look over the edge.

Nothing. There was no sign of Amara or Dandella down the side of the cliff or at the bottom from what they could see.


	15. Rough

Amara gave a violent start and her eyes flew open with a small gasp. It was that feeling like she was about to fall out of bed, but she was nowhere near the edge. In fact, she wasn't even in a bed. She was laying flat on her back on the floor with her hands neatly folded on her stomach as if she had been peacefully napping. Sitting up and looking around very confused, she saw she was in a rounded cave the size of a large 3-car garage. She quickly found Dandella laying next to her in the same position, but she seemed to be asleep still and Amara wasn't sure she wanted to wake her. Slowly getting to her feet, she felt sluggish and off. At first, she couldn't remember what last happened, but then it slowly came floating back in small pieces. She clearly remembered everything all the way from first seeing aliens in the theater, meeting the Doctor, going with him, being underground with giant worms, finding out about Cybermen, and listening to Jaster and Dandella's plans. That's where things got fuzzy, however.

_Where am I? How did I get here?_ Were the obvious thoughts as she looked around. The cave was clearly part of the canyon structure and it didn't go anywhere. It was just a rounded space with a flat floor. In fact, now that she thought about it, the floor was very flat. Like it has been ground and smoothed down on purpose. She bent down and ran her hand over it. It had to be manmade; it was just too smooth to be natural however it did seem old with the small divets that cratered its surface. It didn't seem to be made by the worms either. Looking around some more she saw daylight and wandered towards it. Coming to the edge of the cave, it quickly became apparent that this wasn't an ordinary cave. It was set into the cliff side more than half way up above the lake below. The waters were still unsettled yet not as turbulent as before and now had a cloudy hue in its depths as if someone poured cream into tea.

Amara heard Dandella awake with a sharp gasp and made her way back to her. Just like she had, Dandella took her time getting up and seemed disoriented for a few moments.

"Amara?" She asked unsure.

"Yes." Amara answered.

"Are we dead?" Dandella glanced around.

"No." Amara shook her head.

"Then what happened? I…I wanted to jump… Why did you try to stop me? You could have been killed with me?" Dandella was becoming frantic.

"Because that wouldn't have solved anything." Amara shrugged and Dandella just stared at her as if she has spoken some alien language. "Dandella, killing yourself is not the answer. It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

"You don't understand." She shook her head and hugged herself. Her volcanic face crinkled as a few tears slid free. "All I had was Jaster. We were supposed to start a family."

"Dandella." Amara sighed and sat them down against a wall. "I can't say that I completely understand exactly what you are going through. I have never been married and I can't have children." Dandella looked over at her at that admission. "All the parts are there, they just don't work like they are supposed to. My parents noticed it when I wasn't hitting puberty like I should. I ended up having to have hormone shots to help my body do what it was supposed to do."

"That's terrible!" Dandella was aghast and then shook her head. "You would never have made it in Yamat high society like that!"

"Well, anyways." Amara gave a small smile at that. "I have had a few relationships. The first one was a bad one from the get-go, but I stayed with him for a while. The second one lasted longer and we were going to get married, but I left him because, well, it just wouldn't have worked long term unless he was willing to make some personal changes. He was a very negative person and his father's sudden death made it way worse. The last guy I was with was very nice, but short. As soon as I told him I would never be able to have my own kids, he backed out. He wanted a family and I did too someday, but it would have to be through adoption which I was fine with. He wasn't. He wanted his own flesh and blood children, which I can understand."

"On Yamat, the ability to bear children is a prized one." Dandella said.

"Is it hard to or rare?" Amara asked.

"Not rare, but not easy either." She sighed.

"Because you have to do it under certain conditions?" Amara asked again remembering that Dandella had mentioned about needing proper materials and lots of energy.

"Yes. First, the woman needs to be in union with someone she has feelings for. It can't be just anyone or else her body won't produce the proper hormones for a higher success rate of fertilization. Second, after she is fertile, courtship and mating happens on a regular basis to help make sure she is fertilized. Sometimes as many as five times at any time!" Dandella explained. Amara whistled at that and Dandella allowed a small smile. "Third, once she is sure she has been fertilized, she begins to make her Hold for the birthing. It has to be certain natural sentiments and maintain a certain temperature. Different temperatures could also mean a higher chance of a certain sex being born."

"Like alligator eggs?" Amara laughed.

"I don't know what those are!" Dandella found herself laughing along. It was almost uncontrollable now as she kept giggling and laughing between her explanations. "If Jaster and I had mated to have children, I would have had to stay in the Hold for six months nearly on my back every single day gorging myself on gems and crystals for energy. Burning my ass on those embers! You know it's hot when a Volcan burns her own ass! And then I would have given birth to anywhere between one to five children who I would have had to stay within the Hold while they continue to mature. Jaster! Oh my Flaming Lord!" The laughter had given way to anger. There was a slight glow in the cracks of her obsidian skin as if embers were being stoked. "Jaster as a male and especially of the high courts wouldn't have had any responsibility in it! He would have left me with the children while he continues to do his duties, which were not numerous, and gallivant around with the other men. I would have been left alone to birth and rear our children. Even as they got older his only duty as a father would have been to simply make sure they are not embarrassing him or our house!" She quieted down and eventually drew her knees up to rest her forehead against them with arms wrapped around her legs to keep them up.

"It was going to be different here, wasn't it?" Amara put a sympathetic hand to Dandella's back. She could feel warmth radiating from under the clothing. It wasn't near enough to burn, but she couldn't keep her hand on one place for long. Amara figured her clothing had to be made of special materials to not burn or singe.

"Yes…" Dandella gave a shuddered breath. She was silent for a little while longer giving only the occasional shaky breath as she kept her head buried in her knees. Amara kept giving her the soothing back rub and allowed her the time to be to herself. After a few minutes, Dandella lifted her head and let her legs fall back down into a cross legged position. Amara removed her hand and Dandella leaned back against the cool wall. "I already knew that lifestyles and family life was different on other planets. When we were exiled, I got to see it first-hand. As much as I did enjoy being part of the higher courts and the privileges and comforts it afforded me, like most I hated the training and expectations also placed on me. I never wanted my children to go through that. I wanted them to have more of a choice in life; a choice that would have never been allowed of them and stripped as soon as possible. Coming to Alexandria six years ago and seeing the lifestyles and families here gave me hope. I began to expect that Jaster would be there from beginning to end for the children. To help me raise them and guide them. I also had hope that they could be whatever their hearts desired."

"What did you want to be?" Amara asked.

"I honestly don't know." Dandella shook her head. "If I had been given an actual choice as a child, I would not have picked my position in the courts, but I don't know what else I would have done. I have never gotten to explore my own talents and possibilities until I came here. You know, I actually like dabbling in geology. Not sure I would want to do it the rest of my life, but I like having the choice." She gave a smile at that.

"What was your position in the courts on Yamat, if you don't mind me asking? All day today, you made it sound like you also didn't really want to be here, like Jaster." Amara brought it up. The Dandella sitting at her side now seemed a nearly night and day different from the one she met earlier in the day.

"I partly do want to go back because it is my home. It's where I was born and raised until Jaster and I were joined in the union. I have a choice now though and I don't actually want to go back. I want to stay here. True, at first glance, Alexandria would not have been my first choice, but I have grown to love it here." Dandella went quiet then and gave a few unsure glances to Amara. "On Yamat, I was…Well, I was expected to keep the men in court entertained."

"Oh?" Amara cocked her head not understanding, but then it dawned on her between Dandella's careful choice of words and her awkward behaviors. "Oh! I see. Jaster said you were more like a Lord and Lady though."

"He was more like a Lord and I only became like a Lady through our union. Before, I would have the respect of a Lady, but I did not have the title of one." She informed.

"Ah." Amara nodded.

"It's not so bad if you can get one or two houses to claim you and have you been one of their main consorts. I belonged to Jaster's house almost as soon as I was available to be had and that was actually a lucky thing for me. Some of the other women don't belong to any house and therefore belong to everyone in court." Dandella explained.

"I'm sorry, but that's just messed up." Amara shook her head.

"Most on Yamat, even some of the men, would agree, but it's been that way for so long no one with any power wants to change it." She sighed. "That's why coming here and starting a life here meant so much to me. I was given an opportunity and a chance, although not the exact way I would have wanted, to start over and live my own life the way I want to with Jaster. I knew that he missed his position and privileges on Yamat, but I didn't think he'd actually leave me for it."

"Dandella, you do know that when we get out of here you still need to face what you've done." Amara said. She hated to bring it up, but she didn't want Dandella to think that just because she shared a sad story that she was going to let her get away. _Wait, when did I become the police in this?_

"I know. I know…" Dandella lowered her head. Silence fell between them for the time being.

Amara sighed and looked away. She really did feel for her, but what was she supposed to do? Dandella, no matter what state of mind she was in at the time, had killed a number of people. However it happened, they were both alive after falling off the top of the cliff and sitting in a cave in the cliff face. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember how they were apparently saved from a gruesome high fall death. The thought that the Doctor might have done something crossed her mind, but she also highly doubted it. He seemed to be the kind of person who would have stayed with them until they woke up. Why they were even unconscious to begin with bothered her as well. Looking around the spacious cave they were in, Amara was trying to decide what they should do when something caught her eye. It was just a very quick flash of a shine on the side of the cave entrance. Moving her head back and forth, rocking back and forth to see it she saw it catch the light a few more times.

_I knew I saw something!_ Amara scrambled to her feet to get a closer look.

"What is it? What's going on?" Dandella asked after her, but didn't get up right away.

"There's something in the wall here." Amara approached it and was confused. Just inside the curve of the entrance partially embedded into the solid rock wall sat what was clearly a small metal cylinder no bigger around than her pinky. It was pointed out of the cave into midair over the lake.

"What is it?" Dandella asked again coming to stand near her and look over her shoulder at it.

"I don't know." Amara tapped at it and it felt solidly planted into the wall even though it was partially exposed. She experimentally scratched at the rock around it to see if she could dig more of it out, but it was firm. She couldn't help but think that it kind of looked like a peephole cylinder for doors. Looking into though, she saw nothing at all. However, there was a rounded globe on the end and what looked like the closed shutter of a camera in it. "I wonder if this has anything do with why we are alive."

"Possibly. It looks kind of like a very small TB-45." Dandella shrugged.

"A what?" Amara turned to give her a confused look.

"A TB-45." Dandella tried again, but got the same confused look. "A Tractor Beam 45. They were very popular and the 45 stands for the45th attempt that was as right as they could get it. I don't think I have ever seen one so small though. They don't really use them anymore expect for the larger versions on ships for towing and whatnot. The smaller ones were not anywhere near as reliable and haven't been in use for a long time."

"How long?" Amara asked.

"Oh, let's see." Dandella gave it some thought. "Tractor beam technology was very popular a couple thousand years ago, but it hasn't really been used this small for the last five hundred years or so. Of course you can still find them around. It's just that no one has ever really managed to make a reliable one that's small."

"When you say tractor beam, you mean like a beam that pulls and moves objects right?" Amara went back to examining the object in the wall.

"Of course." Dandella rolled her eyes, but then it dawned on her. "You don't think this little thing caught us while we were falling and brought us in, do you? That would be highly unlikely! Who knows how long it's been sitting there and, like I said, this small of a device was not practical."

"But it could possibly have done it." Amara corrected.

"It's extremely unlikely, but I suppose so." Dandella gave in.

"You know what." Amara looked around the cave again. "I think I have a theory on this."


	16. Update & Apology

**This is just a quick update and apology.**

**I'm so sorry this story has fallen by the way side! I do intend to finish it and hopefully very soon. There have been several factors keeping me from it over the last several months.**

**- Still unemployed and looking for work**

**- Good old fashion writers block**

**- Just got back from a trip to England; no, I was not able to go to the Doctor Who Experience as was planned…**

**- Being stressed in general**

**- Medical issues that unfortunately will require major surgery very soon**

**The story will in fact continue and I have strings and bits of possible future stories, or at least some more quick scenes and one-shots to post. I really want to continue on with more stories about the Doctor and Amara, and I hope some of you will put up with my long breaks for a little bit longer while I deal primarily with the impending surgery(ies).**

**Once again, sorry for the long delays**!


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